A Life of Our Own
by KaryInTheSky
Summary: Ron and Hermione go through a new and important stage of their life together. What surprises can a new mission bring? Danger, growing up and a little bit more... Please R&R!
1. Worries we have

_A/N: This was my first fanfic and the first chapters certainly need some improvement. I'll be taking the time to edit it, I'll add some things and maybe erase others that don't quite fit. The changes won't be huge though and I'll be doing this slowly. So, here is the first one again with a couple of changes._

Hermione woke up in the middle of the night feeling the cold rush the dream had given her. Her face sweaty and her body feeling so heavy she could barely move.

"wh..at? ..Her..mione? What's wrong?"

Ron was a heavy sleeper. But Hermione's rush had made an awful lot of noise.

"Nothing.. Its okay, go back to sleep."

"What happened? Look at your face! You're shaking!"

"Oh, it was a bad dream. That's all. Just a bad dream."

It wasn't all just a bad dream what was concerning Ron's wife. It was more like reliving an old memory. Being inside that old woman's frightening house, left alone waiting for her best friend while he talked upstairs to the old lady. She had waited long, until an alarming feeling took over her. She ran upstairs screaming his name, begging herself to be wrong. When she got up she saw it once more. She saw it so vivid, and so real. The snake was attacking Harry, who for some reason seemed almost defenseless.

"Sorry I woke you up," she said trying to breathe slower.

"It's okay, come here..."

Ron took her in his arms, kissing her forehead. In a way, she felt better. It was just an old memory, something she hadn't dreamed of in years. She hugged Ron back feeling him breathing slowly. She gave in, and her eyes closed heavily as she fell asleep again.

The next morning Hermione was rushing through the ministry corridors. She had vital last minute information on the Gensy case. She kept remembering about the dream over and over. That same morning Ron had told her over breakfast to calm down. She had to calm down. It was all part of the consequences of the war they suffered years ago. Her memories would return once in a while in the form of dreams, she should be used by now. She brought herself back to reality the moment she bumped into someone.

"Oh Harry Hi! Sorry, I was distracted. Heading for Kingsley's office as well?"

"Yeah, he wanted to talk to me. How's the Gensy case going?"

"Great! I think I got his rout. I might even know where he's heading to next! I need to talk to Kingsley about it."

It didn't ever surprise Harry that his friend got to the bottom of these cases so fast. She was cut for solving things. It was that quality what introduced her into a career in the law enforcement department. She was always the best of helps when problems got rough for the auror's department (convenient enough for Harry and Ron). They walked together through the long corridors. He was about to ask her what she had found out when she interrupted him.

"So, how's Ginny doing? She told me a couple of days ago that pregnancy was starting to get on her nerves."

"Yeah, she misses being active", he said smiling. "It's staying in the house all day what doesn't agree with her. But besides that she looks amazing. She really does. Besides, Mrs. Weasley is really helping us out."

Harry couldn't wash the happiness of his face. That pleased Hermione. She knew how important it was for him, probably more important than for any common man, then again Harry had never been a common man.

"I'm happy for you. By the way, How's James behaving?" she said keeping up with him.

"Well good, but claiming a little extra attention. I think he's the one getting on Ginny's nerves. Hermione… Are you all right? You seem a bit... nervous," asked Harry.

Hermione saw no point on lying to him. She told him about the dream as they went up the stairs, and all the awful feelings she got just by remembering that moment.

"…but I guess Ron's right. Some things just can't be erased. And you are the one to know about that," she concluded looking at Harry. "Well! Here we are! Let's go right in. He's waiting for us."

"You were amazing that night, you know that," said Harry blocking the entrance to Kingsley's office. "You saved my life one more time. I could never thank you enough for always being there for me. But the good thing is: I'm alright now and so is Ron. Just try to stop worrying so much. Everything is fine."

He finished the sentence smiling. He placed his hand on hers and opened the door to the office.

Kingsley was waiting in front of his desk, excited about the news Hermione had to bring. She had worked hard on that case for over a month. Arckle Gensy was a wizard and a murderer who had been on the run for too long now. He was a menace to the muggle world for his insanity. Hermione had investigated meticulously his case and kept track of every single one of his appearances. She had finally concluded that his final hiding place had been in a small muggle town in the countryside probably getting ready for his next attacks. When she gave the news Kingsley seemed over pleased.

"I have to hand it to you Hermione. You are a genius!" said Kingsley.

Hermione looked pleased with herself.

"Well Harry," addressed Kingsley. "You got the information. It's time for you to take the matter into actions. This man has been giving us a real headache this last year. So I have a few requests.

"Of course," said Harry.

"I want you to take the capturing mission along with Ron. I know you two will achieve it once and for all. I don't want to get too many people involved here but you should of course take a third auror to help you out, someone new maybe."

"Yes, of course. No problem."

Hermione took a deep breath. She was expecting that. Harry and Ron were often the first choice, but she realized the Gensy case had to be given to the best there was, since the man was so slippery. The thought of it, though, still scared her.

"And…" continued Kingsley when they thought he was finished "I want Hermione to come along as well".

"What? No. Out of the question!" established Harry when he heard such nonsense.

"Sorry Harry but she is after all the one who has been on his tracks for the past months. I'm sure you will need her. What do you think Hermione?"

"Yes…" she said with the news hitting her, "I can come along".

"Hermione, it's too dangerous. The guy is a maniac!"

"Oh! Because I have never been forced to confront dangerous situations or maniac men before! Sorry Harry but I can't stay here knowing I'm much more useful to the case." She gave him a hard look before lowering her voice to almost a whisper. "Try to stop worrying so much. Everything will be fine."

Harry didn't hesitate when returning the same hard look to her. He certainly didn't want her to go. How could he talk her out of it? It was probably stupid just to try. Suddenly he remembered someone who wasn't going to enjoy the idea at all.


	2. Sweet emotions

A while later Hermione had headed back to her department to finish some paper work and back in the auror's department Harry explained to Ron the whole situation.

"What!? No! Hermione isn't coming! One thing is when she takes charge of her own assignments, but I'm not going to be irresponsible enough to just bring the danger to her just because Kingsley says so!", yelled Ron.

Harry expected that from Ron, since he had reacted the same way. He would have never taken voluntarily Hermione or Ginny on a case like this one. But things like this were probable to happen and he knew Hermione wouldn't get out of it so easy. After all, Kingsley was right: she was one of the best they got.

"Maybe you can talk her out of it" hoped Harry, knowing that was almost impossible.

"Well, she isn't going Harry. I'm making sure of that tonight".

"Ron… try to be, you know… gentle about it".

"Harry, I think I know how to talk to my wife".

Harry didn't answer to that last statement.

That night Hermione and Ron were getting ready to go to sleep when he finally brought up the subject. He tried to be delicate about it but Hermione was ahead of him. She had expected that from him any time soon.

"Ron, please don't even try to talk me out of it. I am going. That's final. We have two weeks to get ready, by the way".

"Hermione, I don´t think…"

"Please Ron, be supportive about this…"

"Listen Hermione, I really think it's just stupid for you to come, I don't..."

"Stupid!?", she cut him, "It's stupid for me to come? What? You don't think I can do this!?"

"That's not what I meant! But I'm not taking you! It's too dangerous! You´re not going! End of story!"

"What? It's not your decision Ronald! You don't determine my actions no matter in what department you are!"

"Hermione, can you be reasonable about this? You're not going and that's FINAL!"

"Oh! FINAL? So you think it's settled then? First you don't think me capable of doing anything and now you think you just command and I take orders!? That is great to know Ronald!", she screamed as she opened the bedroom door fiercely.

"Where are you going!?", he yelled.

"You don't really expect me to sleep here do you? I´m sleeping in the other room, And that´s FINAL!"

Hermione stormed out of the room closing the door. Ron knew that hadn't been the best way to ask Hermione Granger Weasley to do something. But he went to bed thinking that she would come up anytime now. He tried hard to fall sleep and an hour later he achieved it.

Ron found himself inside stone walls trying desperately to find an exit. He heard her screams from upstairs. He had to get out! How would he get out? He couldn't Think, he could barely breathe. He felt despair take total control of him. The screams were louder; He felt her so close, he felt her inches from him. He had to get out! _"Hermione!!"_ He screamed. "_Hermione No!"_

Ron opened his eyes in the middle of the night. The clock marked 3:30 am. He turned around to study the empty left side of the bed. He got up and went to inspect the spare room. Since she wasn't there he went down the stairs. As he walked down he saw her in the couch in front of the vivid fire that grew out of the chimney. She was surrounded by papers and books. Her brown hair looked lighter through the fire light, and she seemed so concentrated it almost looked like nothing had happened. He smiled, he couldn't help it. It reminded him of their school days when he could seat for hours in a chair in front of her watching her concentrate hard in her homework. It had always made him feel nice: the image of her going through books and writing fluidly and so secure of herself always made her look beautiful. He walked up to her. She had felt him coming. She turned back and watched him in silence.

"It's late, what are you working on?", he said finally.

"Oh, just a long inform I might as well get over with now".

"Hermione...I'm sorry I made it look the way I did. It wasn't supposed to come out that way. I'm just so afraid. I can't take the possibility of you getting hurt. I just can't take it".

"Ron, nothing is going to happen to me. I'll be fine. I mean, I understand. I get the same fear with you and Harry, but I try to never get in the way".

"Don't you understand Hermione!? If something happens to you I'll never forgive myself! I'll just… die!"

"And don't _you_ understand Ronald that if something ever happened to you as well I'LL just die!!! I can´t even dare to think my life without you, the thought of it is just too painful".

There was a silence. Ron understood her well.

"Let's just do this together Ron", she said breaking the silence, "then maybe we can take care of each other".

He smiled. He loved her right now more than any other moment of their life. Her hair had an intense glow behind her that made her look even more secure of herself, more beautiful. He couldn't resist. He kneeled by the couch taking the quill of her hand and putting it on top of the coffee table. He looked at her and she looked back.

"Well it will be that way then", he declared with a soft smile. He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her lips deeply. She kissed back placing her arms around his neck. He forgot his worries and remembered how sweet it was each time he had her.

"Don´t you ever sleep away from me", he commanded, breaking the kiss softly.

"I´m sorry…I wasn´t going to anyway".

"Will you come up with me now?", he asked.

She smiled giving no verbal answer. That was enough. Ron carried her off the couch and up the stairs. She laughed. It felt so sweet each time she was his.

_A/N : Please Review!!!_


	3. Awkward Harry

_Well, this chapter is more about friendship. I wanted to show how much Harry and Hermione grew as friends over the years. Please Review!_

Hermione opened her eyes to a strange amount of light coming in from the bedroom window. She tried to set free from Ron´s arms, which were still embracing her. She managed to glance at the clock that this time marked 8:40… 8:40!

"Ron!... Ron!... RON! Wake up! It´s awfully late!"

"What? Why? What time is it?"

"Ron! It´s 8:40! We slept in! I had a meeting at eight o clock! What I'm I going to say?", she rushed the words as she rushed herself, jumping out of bed and running to pick her clothes off the floor. Ron on the other hand stood calmly on the bed.

"Well, tell them your husband kept you busy".

"Very Funny Ron", she said throwing him his night shirt "What are you still doing there? You´ll be late for your hearing!"

A while later Ron came quite late inside their office.

"Good morning!", he said, focusing on the first word.

"Where were you?", asked Harry, "its past nine o'clock! And we have that hearing at nine thirty. I though you weren't coming at all".

"Oh yeah… well… Hermione and I slept in more than usual. We went to bed really late last night", said Ron getting a red glow on his face.

"Oh, so you talked about it?", asked Harry knowing how Hermione must have reacted to the whole situation. He also knew Ron probably wasn't very gentle with the subject. "You had a big fight, didn't you?"

"Yeah we fought…at first".

"So you talked her out of it?", asked Harry with admiration.

"No….I didn't. Actually I think she talked me into it. But we kind of made up for all the fighting later", he answered with the biggest of the smiles on his face. "I mean for the rest of the night we…"

"Hey! No details thank you! I get the picture", interrupted Harry "You made up, that's all I need to know. You wouldn't want any details about me and Ginny, would you?", he joked.

Ron wrinkled his face for a few seconds. Then he managed to forget Harry´s last declaration and he couldn't get the huge smile of his face for the rest of the day.

After the hearing, Harry went to pay a visit to his friend. He knocked the door to her office, and without waiting much he took the liberty of entering.Her desk was filled with parchments and she was once again concentrated on her writing.

"Hey!"

"Good Morning Harry!", he noticed how she also managed to put enfaces on the first word.

"Well... you look considerably more relaxed than yesterday", he said smiling.

"You´ll be happy to know That I am Much more relaxed than yesterday", she answered still concentrating on her writing. "How´s Ron?"

"Well, I don´t know, you tell me!I mean, he hasn´t being paying attention to anything he´s been doing today. I gave up with him a few minutes ago".

"Oh Harry, you know...", she dropped her quill exited "he makes me feel so...so..."

Harry switched his smile into a face of low terror while he waited for her to finish the sentence.

" ...um...lucky...", she said after seeing her friend´s change of interest."You know Harry, stop wrinkling your face and stop being so silly. I think we are old enough for this talks", she mocked, "yes, its awkward,you and I are like brothers and some conversations feel awfully strange. But if we can´t talk to each other about almost everything...who are we going to talk to? I mean, really, sometimes you behave like ridiculous jealous Ron".

He started to feel like a 15 year old stupid Harry. She was right, there were so many things he couldn´t talk to Ron about...instead with Hermione he always had a bond of trust with no intermissions. She would always listen to him, no matter the subject.

"You know...",she continued talking feeling that what she had to say next was necessary to make her point. "When Ginny talks to me about you, I try not to cut her off, unless of course she starts to get too graphic.Normally I just try to listen, or hand out advice".

"What?...talk?... graphic?...Advice!!!?? She tells you about...you know...us?"

"Yes Harry,what did you expect?Women tend to talk quite a lot you know".

"And do you tell her about Ron..? That´s weird".

"Sometimes... when needed", she laughed. "You know I tend to be more reserved".

"If Ron knew we were having this conversation, he would probably freak out".

"I would expect that from him".

They smiled for a while, until Harry remembered the real reason he was there.

"Hermione, I wanted to talk to you about something..."

"Don´t even try to Harry. Ron gave it a shot last night and he wasn´t very successful, was he? I am not going to change my mind. I don´t go around talking you two out of everything I might think it´s dangerous".

"Well...it´s just that... you know...Hermione, I dragged you around for years making you take risks, hurting yourself, making you save my life...when I put it behind me it looks so...selfish. I mean, thank god nothing happened to you. Why should I take a step backwards now that there´s no real danger?"

"You're not selfish Harry... and you didn´t drag me around. I did everything because I always believed in what you did, and because I love you...", she smiled, knowing that there were high chances of her friend to get all awkward again. To her surprise he just said:

"I love you too".


	4. Two nights before

_I down own Harry Potter_

_This chapter takes place two days before the capturing mission_

The trio kept working in the capturing mission for the next two weeks. By the end of the second week Hermione had practically everything under control. They felt they had spent those weeks with the Arckle Gensy character.

"Why the bloody hell does Kingsley want us to spend so much time getting ready? We could have that guy in Azkaban by now", asked Ron in one of those days of desperation.

"He wants everything to be perfect. Apparently he is not willing to lose track of him again", answered an inpatient Hermione. She had spent so much time helping them out, she was almost leaving her every day work responsibilities unattended.

By the end of the second week Ron and Hermione were hanging out at Harry´s house. Ginny had invited them over for dinner. They had been talking for hours, laughing and making fun of whatever came up, they were completely rested.

"I have to admit. Being here all day not able to do mush around the house is kind of madning! I mean, when I was pregnant with James mom and Harry kind of drove me crazy sometimes but I could take it. But now it's not only mom and harry the ones who I have to watch out for, James seems to be getting more aware every day that he is not going to be the only one messing around the house".

"What do you mean driving you crazy?", replied Harry

Ginny laughed at the sight of his face, realizing what she had said.

"Well, you both did kind of treat me like I was about to explode or something. 'Don´t move, don´t breath, don´t eat this, don´t drink that, rest here, stay there'. But I have to admit Harry, you are behaving better this time".

Ron placed his hand gently over his wife´s knee. Hermione smiled at him, until they heard a sudden crash coming from upstairs.

"Oh… great! That sounded like my flower pot. I´ll go check on James", said Ginny, attempting to get up.

"It´s okay. I´ll go!", Interrupted Ron, "he doesn´t do it on purpose you know. He´s a wizard. Most baby wizards tend to break things from time to time", said Ron.

"I don´t know...", replied Ginny with a soft smile "I´m starting to think he knows what he´s doing. He was looking at it rather strangely yesterday. I think he didn´t like it. Well, I better go clean up the kitchen".

"No, you can relax, Hermione and I will take care of it" said Harry.

"But! Oh...Okay...". Ginny didn't seem very pleased. "You know Harry, for our next baby, you can get pregnant and I´ll be useful". She mocked resigning to stay in the couch once more.

When they got to the kitchen Hermione felt a cold rush take over her. She was starting to sweat, and she looked as if she had just came from a run around the block. Harry noticed right away and grabbed her even before she noticed she was falling. He grabbed a bench from the counter and sat her down.

"Hermione, you are so pale! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sure… I´m just tired".

"Hermione..."

"Alright I haven´t been feeling well today. But I didn´t eat much in the entire day either so I guess That´s it", she lied.

"Are you sure? Is this just today? Because we leave in two days and if you're sick then…"

"Yes Harry. I´m sure! I´m not sick. And please don´t go telling Ron, you know he overreacts about everything".

After they conjured enough spells to get the dishes washing and drying, the mop working on the floor and the clean things all in their places, they got out of the kitchen to see that Ron had returned with James in his arms. The boy had developed a particular interest in pulling Ron´s hair.

"Doesn´t he look adorable like that?", Hermione´s smile grew tender.

"Who? My son or the red head loaf holding him", joked Harry.

"My godson is obviously adorable; but I was going for the red head loaf", she answered keeping her eyes and smile on Ron.


	5. The Trip

Hermione stepped out of the chimney and into her living room. A few seconds later Ron entered the room through the green flames. Hermione threw herself in the couch and right beside her Ron sat down as he lighted a small, warm fire in the chimney with his wand.

"I´m exhausted.", she said letting a huge sight escape her.

Ron grabbed his wife´s waist and pulled her the nearest he could towards him. She rested her head on his chest, letting him play gently with her hair. They stood together in silence for a few minutes.

"Do you remember our first kiss Ron?"

"I don´t know…it's all blurry in my head".

"Like your brain Ronald… ", she said laughing "Come on…I´m serious".

"Of course I remember. How could I forget? I remember a charming desperate to kiss me girl running towards me".

"I was not desperate!" She laughed again "I was being spontaneous! If anything I was putting you out of your misery".

"And you definitely succeeded at that!...". He moved his head a bit closer to hers. "It was amazing. I had never felt anything like it. It was perfect. "He smiled in silence thinking of Hermione´s question. "And may I ask… why are you so buttered up tonight?"

"I don´t know I just feel… I don´t know… strange. I guess I love you a bit more tonight, Is that possible?"

"I should hope so". His last words got lost as he grabbed her face and kissed her lips deeply. After breaking the kiss he said with a huge smile:

"Well, I like you when you butter up, you´re sweeter than the bossy know it all I usually have to put up with".

"Oh please!", she interrupted, "you love the bossy know it all, you can´t live without her".

"I can´t argue that!"

"It would be the first time!"

They found themselves laughing at their own silliness. Ron continued playing with her hair as she gazed deeply into the growing fire.

…………………….

Two days later Ron, Harry and Hermione were getting ready to apparate in a Stadville, a small muggle town in the countryside almost forgotten by muggles themselves. They were also waiting for the fourth member of the mission to arrive: Alfred Rockle, a young enthusiastic auror who had been working for the Ministry for Magic in France for a couple of years, and was recently transferred to England. Ron and Harry had spent the last two weeks keeping him up with all the possible information related to the Gensy´s Case.

"Why do you suppose he isn´t here yet?", asked Harry.

"I say we leave him. I still don´t see why he was the best we could find".

"Ron! We can´t leave him! Besides, he is supposed to be very good. Well, he came highly recommended", explained Hermione. "Oh, good… there he is".

Alfred was a tall thin man, who just turned 23 years old. He was what women would call an ideal prototype. He had light grey eyes and long light brown hair. His career, his good looks and his tactics with girls gave him a popular name between the women in the ministry of magic. Since he made the auror´s career he had shown a much excited position to anything related to catching dark wizards. To him it seemed more an everyday adventure than a real job. He was born in England, but lived since he graduated from Hogwarts in France, where he had been known for his many accomplishments and dangerous trips around the world.

"I'm here mates! Well, let´s catch those bad wizards!", he exclaimed enthusiastically. "Hello again Hermione, so nice to see you!"

Ron rolled his eyes and leaned next to Harry to tell him something:

"I still say we should leave him".

…………….

The four of them apparated in the small town of Stadville. It was what muggles would ordinarily call a ghost town. It looked almost abandoned, but a few families and businesses still managed to survive there. They walked around inspecting the place.

"I could see why the man would choose to hide here", said Ron after walking by a pile of wooden chairs and tables in the middle of a street corner.

"Well, we already know that there isn´t a single witch or wizard living here yet. They use this place as a station more or less. So whoever we encounter we´ll have to be very discrete when we talk to them. Is that clear to you two?", she referred directly to Ron and Alfred, who were the two wizards that didn´t have any normal contact with muggles.

"Sure! You should know there´s no problem with me minoe!", answered Alfred unnoticing the thick look Ron was giving him for directing to Hermione so casually. "You know… when I was in Albany in search for the tribe of the masked werewolves I gained enough experience contacting muggles. Yes, I remember well that I was the only one who could get any information on…"

"That´s nice Alfred", interrupted Harry. "Well I say we can get going now".

"No matter, we will split, as we said. Hermione, since you and I have the most muggle experience, we can…"

"Oh no, I don't think so", jumped Ron, "we'll attach to the original plan. Harry and Hermione will go talk to muggles and you and I can go inspect the empty places".

"Okay then, we'll meet here again", agreed Hermione. Her tender laughter was hardly covered by her words. She then raised herself on her tip toes to kiss Ron's forehead. He was quite taller than her, and she loved doing that. "Take care", she added.

Hermione took off with Harry who couldn't hold his laugh any longer.

"I have to say", he addressed her, looking at her unwashed smile, "You surprised me. Normally you get mad when Ron gets all jealous over you".

"I don't know. He looked kind of cute".

"Well…don't tell me you are buttering up!"

"Honestly Harry, stop teasing me! It's funny though, Ron said the same thing to me last night".

"…Besides, I few years ago I learned how to enjoy watching the two of you fight over things like this. I never got it when we were younger. It's only your way of flirting with each other".

"Cut it out Harry!", she said laughing; her cheeks were adopting an intense tone of pink. "Oh, look! That must be her…"

"What?... Who?"


	6. The Muggle

Across the street sat a very old woman on a chair in front of her doorstep, looking straight at the two friends. The woman was frowning, but looked rather curious at the strangers.

"That must be Amanda Shocks. You know… I told you she was the oldest person in town. She was born here, and she is one of those people who takes almost custody of the place. She feels it all belongs to her".

"Yeah, I remember perfectly. Well…if anybody is going to know anything is going to be her. Come on".

When they started to cross the street, they noticed how the old lady's frown was suddenly turning into a small smile of acceptance.

"Good afternoon Madam", addressed Harry.

"I thought it would be impolite to come to Stadville and not pay me a visit", she immediately replied.

The woman took off her small round glasses and cleaned them with the bottom of her black and white flowered skirt. Harry couldn't help but glancing at Hermione. When the woman got her glasses back on again, she stared at Hermione for a minute, apparently looking for something and then addressed directly to Harry and said:

"Well, it's been a while since such a young couple like you two came around this place. I wonder what I could do for you. I sincerely doubt that you're looking for your dream home here- she gave him a quick and small smile.

Hermione and Harry had a whole story figured out. But as soon as she opened her mouth to talk she felt, once again, the unpleasant cold rush take over her right from de middle of her stomach and into her head. She immediately grabbed Harry by the arm in a desperate need to find relieve.

"Hermione, what's wrong? What is it?"

The woman immediately got up from her chair and gently took Hermione by her free arm, while she opened the door to her house.

"Well, young lady. You need to grab a breath. Come inside".

Hermione hesitated for a second, but immediately agreed to come inside. Behind her a nervous Harry followed.

The house was as old as the owner herself. Inside, wooden furniture that appeared to hold decades within it decorated every inch of the place. Old brown cloths that once could have been white were on top of the coffee and corner tables. Still, the place looked fairly neat for such a lonesome person. An enormous amount of family pictures rested on the tables, the cupboard and some even hung from the yellow wallpaper. They quickly entered the kitchen were the woman sat Hermione down and ran to the fridge to get something.

"What's wrong Hermione?", whispered Harry, as soon as he got close enough to her. "I thought that was a one day thing. You're worrying me!"

"Not to worry dear", said the woman as she took a jar with a red substance in it and poured it into a clean cup. "Here, take this. You will feel better".

Hermione looked at the substance doubting if she would be doing the right thing. She then glanced at Harry who was also staring at the red substance.

"It's just tomato juice. Its okay, you may drink it. It will clear the yellow look on your face".

As Hermione started to slowly sip the beverage, Harry thought they had lost enough time already.

"We are very sorry to bother you, but we are from the investigations center of the police department in London, and we are here… looking for someone".

"Are you really?", she said looking at Harry straight in the eyes; she then stared at the almost unnoticeable scar on his forehead. "Funny, isn't it? We haven't had a single policeman looking for someone here in the last, I don't know…20 years perhaps? I lost count really. The weirdest things happen here all the time, but no one from the outside seems to show the slightest interest".

Her voice was calm and steady. She stared at Hermione who forgot to keep drinking and was showing absolute interest in the woman's words. The lady suddenly continued.

"Keep drinking dear. It's strange, really… how people can always pretend to ignore the things they can't explain. We gave up on police officers a long time ago. People almost forgot we are still here. It wouldn't surprise me if you couldn't find this place in the map anymore. But no matter…so you're looking for someone, right?"

Harry nodded

"If you're police people you must know all about me then… do you?"

"I believe we know a thing or two", explained Harry, "You're Amanda Shocks. You lived here since your birth, mother of three children, widow. None of your sons have been around here in years".

"Yes, yes. You did your homework. None of them want to know anything about this place. Well… you are definitely investigating something. But as for police people… I don't know. Now, I have to ask: Why choose here? What makes you think that of all muggle places you would find something here?"

Harry's eyes popped. He tried his hardest to not look surprised, but it was impossible. Hermione shocked on the last sip of tomato juice and after clearing her through she looked at the woman and said:

"I'm sorry, what was that you said?"

"Muggles", she said with such nature, "as in… non magic folk. You know… people like me".

Harry wouldn't hold his surprise anymore. He didn't find any real reason to do it, so he smiled and said:

"How in the world could you…"

"Know?", she interrupted, "well, I just do. I thought I had two choices. If you really were who you said you were then you'd be the first policemen to come around here in decades, and probably the last, since you would turn around and ignore once more the old lady that lives here. But if you were who I thought you were, then I wouldn't be loosing my precious time. Of course you must know that regular muggles lack of perspective and choose to see only what they want to see. But I am no regular muggle. And people like me are never taken seriously and are always excluded from what muggles call 'the real world', even from our own family, but enough about me. Who are you two dears?"

Hermione couldn't hold the smile.

"I'm Hermione Granger".

"And I'm Harry Potter".

"Oh, yes! Of course you are!"


	7. Perceptive Muggle

Harry and Hermione sat half surprised and half relieved with the old lady. She seemed to be pleased with herself for noticing so quickly that there were two wizards sitting at her kitchen table. Then, barley holding her happiness, she got up and started to prepare hot tea for her guests.

"Yes, yes…I've read all about you Harry Potter".

"I'm sorry… read about me?"

"Why, of course! Well…let me explain myself. You see, when I was a little girl I discovered something great, something that only a child would have been perceptive enough to see. This town was never as lonely as it is now, but it had always been small, and the strangest travelers came here. One day a strange beautiful woman arrived to our town, to rest from a long journey. I remember it vividly. She was mysterious but charming, and a very quiet woman. Since my father owned the town hotel, I spent a lot of time around her… asking lots of questions, and playing with the strangest things she carried around with her. She was always very nice to me. One day I found something in her room. A small beautifully carved piece of wood, with the loveliest decoration. I asked her what it was and she was kind enough to tell me the truth".

Harry and Hermione looked at each other smiling. The old lady arranged the tea cups and poured the warm beverage on each of them. Then she sat down to continue her talking.

"After that I felt blessed with knowing that such amazing things actually did exist. She told me everything about her world, and even gave me some of her books, a few potions and other interesting things to play with. You can imagine my disappointment when she told me that a witch isn´t made, it´s born. But it still was wonderful. I had a secret: magic in fact existed. As I grew up I identified every single wizard or witch that came by. I attended them well, and when they were about to leave I always bought something from them, mostly books. Some of them gave me their newspapers and that's how I learned to live close to your world. My family never found my behavior amusing. Later on, my sons though me crazy. The only person who cared enough to find out was my husband, and he believed me". The woman let a sight escape her lips. "He is gone now… And that is why I'm so honored to have you in my house. I have read so much…"

The two friends sat there, calmly hearing the sweet old woman talk and talk for a while. Harry didn't have the courage to stop her; he felt a sweet sorrow towards her. Hermione already had tears on her eyes. They heard her go on and answered every curious question she asked. After a while the muggle seemed pleased with the conversation.

"Well! Look at me talk. You two are here looking for someone and I just won't stop talking. You will have to forgive me. Well…who are you looking for?"

"What? Oh, right… Well, you see Mrs. Shocks, we are here looking for a wizard precisely. Have you seen any in the last few months? His name is Arckle Gensy".

"Well…It so happens that a young man has in fact been staying here for the past month. Of course I found out he was a wizard quite fast. He is very polite, and from time to time he comes to town and gets what he needs, then he heads back…"

"Back? Where?", asked Hermione.

"To the entrance of the forest, he is staying in an old abandoned house. It's actually very close from here, just by the end of the road. He likes to be alone you know... And he is very quiet. He promised that when he continues his way he would leave me some of his things. He has never told me his name though…he is very discrete, and I don´t mind, I learned to respect people´s privacy over the years".

"I'm sorry", interrupted Hermione. "When you say he comes and gets what he needs… you mean… food?"

"Well, yes, food, but also all sorts of supplies. We let him come inside the abandoned houses and get what he wants. We don't always see what he takes though. He is very mysterious with his ways, but we are used to people like that. We don't really mind. If anything I love having wizards around! Oh! And he also seems very interested in muggle artifacts".

"Mrs. Shock… I'm sorry…but we have to leave now. We need to find this man. Would you do us a favor?", asked Harry.

"Oh! Anything, of course! I´ll be more than happy to help you both".

"If you see this man before us, please don't tell him someone is looking for him".

"Oh… I won't! Anything to help!"

"Thanks a lot", said Hermione, still carrying tears in her eyes. "It's been wonderful talking to you".

After they said goodbye they left the kitchen. The old woman stood on her doorstep watching them go. As they left the house Hermione wasn't holding the tears anymore. She was sobbing as she walked.

"What's wrong?", asked Harry, starting to seriously concern about her friend's lately strange behavior.

"Actually Harry… I don't know what I'm crying about anymore. I mean, I felt so bad for her. She is so misunderstood, so alone. And yet, so happy with the little she has. But I don't see how I can cry so much for that. I mean it´s not that big a deal…is it?"

Harry had a sudden though. Hermione had always been more soft-hearted than she tried to appear on the outside. She had always been very sensible. But she was behaving rather strange lately. He wondered if he was concluding the right thing. He remembered that Ginny had already gone through similar symptoms twice…

"Hermione… is it possible that you might be…"

"Oh, look! The guys are already waiting for us!", she interrupted as she cleaned the tears from her eyes.

He knew this wasn't the time to think about this, but he grabbed his friend's arm before she could keep walking and whispered next to her ear:

"Promise me you will go straight to St. Mungus and check yourself out when we get home. Even if I have to drag you there…"

He looked at her straight in the eyes. Since he knew her, Hermione had always been so busy caring for Ron and him to occupy on her own sake. This time he had to make sure she would be okay.

"Alright… okay Harry…I promise".

"Well… What took you so long?", asked Ron as the four of them met again. "Found anything?"

"Actually we did", answered Hermione. "How about you?"

"Not much".

Harry and Hermione told them everything they found out. Hermione got her eyes watering again as she talked about the old sweet muggle.

"Well! What are we waiting for? Let's go!", exclaimed Alfred with much enthusiasm.

Ron walked next to Harry and when he got the chance he whispered:

"I'm telling you mate! The man is like a young Lockhart. All he did was tell me about his many adventures and achievements. I thought he would never shut. I am never working with him again".


	8. The Capture of Arckle Gensy

The four of them walked their way out of town and through the only road it had. Alfred kept telling Hermione diverse stories about his most recent adventures, while Harry and Ron walked behind them. Ron gave Harry obnoxious looks from time to time.

They arrived discretely to what appeared to be, not only the end of the road but the end of everything. A small wooden house stood in front of the forest.

"Looks like he isn't there.", stated Hermione, "Not one light is on".

"Well, we might as well go in and check it out. But we shouldn't go all at once", said Harry. "Hermione, you can find a place to hide out here, close to that back door". He pointed to what appeared to be a back entrance. "And stay with Alfred".

"What?", argued Alfred, "I think I should go in and inspect. After all, I am…"

"I'll tell you what Alfred", interrupted Ron with an obvious tone of despair. "I'll give you a whole new assignment. You will take care of Hermione out here. If you do that wrong I'll fire you".

"Ronald I do not need to be taken care of! I…"

"Hermione please… You two should stay out here. We need someone to watch out in case he returns", said Harry. "If you see him coming go through the back door and warn us. Ambushing him shouldn't be very hard if he doesn´t suspect it, there's four of us after all".

Ron and Harry walked silently towards the front door. Ron looked back to make sure Hermione and Alfred were hiding close to the house. Finally he saw them hiding behind a huge pile of recently cut logs.

"From what I know, it's probably Hermione the one who will have to take care of him", whispered Harry, catching Ron's worried look. "She'll be fine".

"I know…I know".

They got in easily. The door wasn´t properly closed, and they made their way in with their wands at the ready. The place was a mess. Dirty clothes, empty cans and papers were all over the floor. Soon they spotted a small dinner table on a corner that held a group of muggle objects.

"Well, that's a strange collection", said Ron.

On the table were placed all sort of knifes with different sizes, and different types of blades. Next to them electric home drills were meticulously placed according to size.

"Those are muggle working tools…", explained Harry. "Dangerous ones".

"Do you suppose he is planning on… using them?"

"Most likely…Yeah. We know he didn't always used his wand on his victims, and he has developed a particular interest in muggle objects".

Suddenly a loud noise came from the back. Hermione and Alfred caught up with them running from the back door.

"He's here", she said. "He apparated on the road and he's walking towards the house".

A few seconds later a medium size man walked in. Arckle Gensy's messy black hair covered half of his face. He came inside holding a plastic bag apparently filled to the top. On the other the hand he held his wand.

"Expelliarmus!", exclaimed Harry, disarming him of his wand.

Simultaneously Ron threw a spell that closed the door behind Gensy. From the shock Gensy dropped his bag, while Alfred grabbed him from the back and pointed him with his wand. Hermione took carefully the plastic bag and slowly emptied it. All sort of muggle tools came out of it.

"Look at all this!", she exclaimed, inspecting the drills, wrenches and knifes that were now forming a pile on the floor.

"We think he was planning on using them as weapons", explained Harry as he walked near Hermione to see the new pile of tools.

"It looks more like…a collection, a rather weird one".

"Who the Bloody Hell do you think you are?" ,argued Gensy, "to come into my house and…"

"What's important is that we know who you are!", said Alfred. "You won't be giving the ministry or the muggle police any more trouble, we'll make sure you go straight to…"

"Alfred!" Said Ron, who was now also pointing at Gensy with his wand. "Tie him up! And Search him. Make sure he is not armed".

"But we already disarmed him…", he objected with a mocking laugh.

"Just do it! Should we search the rest of the house Harry?"

"Yeah… go ahead", said Harry. He pointed his wand directly at Gensy, but kept his eyes fixed in the new pile of sharp Knives that Hermione had just taken out of the plastic bag.

Ron lowered his wand, turned around and started to walk to the other rooms. After searching the criminal Alfred found a rather strange but apparently amusing small object in Gensy's jacket. He grabbed the heavy small steel object, forgetting Ron´s first orders.

"Well, you sure like to play with the most ridiculous muggle toys Gensy!", he addressed him with a huge mocking tone of voice. "Where did you ever get this? At a muggle toy store?"

Hermione, who had still been inspecting the sharp tools, looked from her distance at the object that now rested in one of Alfred hands.

"I though Ron told you to tie him up…", she said, "… Alfred that's a gun!"

"A what?"

The rest was a matter of seconds. Before Ron turned around again, Gensy had enough time to take the gun back from Alfred's hand, pointing straight at Harry and Hermione's direction.

"Expelliarmus!", yelled Harry.

But it was late. Although the spell had disarmed him, Gensy had enough seconds to shoot the gun.

"Protego!", had yelled Hermione simultaneous to Harry's disarming spell.

A protective bubble surrounded Harry and Hermione. But it didn't last long. As soon as the bullet touched the sphere Hermione felt as if she had been thrown with all amounts of strength against the wall. The bullet had detained its way, but at the same time she fell instantly on the floor. Harry, completely unharmed couldn't understand what had gone wrong with Hermione's protective spell.

"Stupefy!", yelled Ron directly at Gensy, after which he threw a spell that tied his hands and feet up.

Ron ran towards Hermione to find her unconscious on the floor.

"Hermione! Come on… Wake up…"

But she wouldn't wake. Her breathing was slow and for Ron it seemed to pause at times.

"What the bloody hell did you think you were doing?", yelled Harry looking at Alfred's shocked face. "What did you think this was? Some sort of game? What kind of an Auror are you?".

"I don't… I didn't… I…". Alfred could barely speak. He was staring straight at Hermione who still wouldn't wake up.

"Do you have the slightest idea of what you just did? Listen to me… if anything happens to her I will kill you myself". Harry couldn't help his anger. But after a couple of minutes screaming at Alfred's face, he remembered he had a stupefied criminal on the floor and an injured friend. When he turned around to where Hermione was Ron had already picked her up from the floor.

"I'm going to St. Mungus", he said with a desperate tone of voice, after that he disapparated with Hermione on his arms.

Harry turned around to look straight at Alfred, who was still staring in shock at the place where Hermione had just been; his face had lost complete color.

"Don't just stand there! Pick Gensy up!. I'm leaving you two to the Minister for Magic".


	9. Silence

**Ok, here goes chapter 9. Thank you so much for the reviews so far! Please keep reading and reviewing! thanks! **

Harry had never moved as fast in his life. In a matter of minutes he arrived at the Ministry, and told Kingsley the whole story. When he got to the last part, he saw himself screaming again at Alfred, reminding him how incredibly stupid he had been. After a while Kingsley managed somehow to calm him down.

"Harry, you better go straight to St. Mungus. I'll take care of the rest of this. And, you should probably notify Ron's family as well. I'm very sure that Ron doesn't have space in his head for that right now".

Harry nodded, turned around and left Kingsley's office. But he knew that the Minister for Magic's serene reaction was only to calm Harry down. He knew that Kingsley was going to be as hard on Alfred as Harry had been, and he couldn't help feeling a little better. He walked down the hall wondering about how could his friend be doing by now. Then he remembered that he had to at least inform Ginny.

He leaned for his best option: In a matter of seconds a beautiful silver stag grew out of Harry's wand, like it had in other occasions. His full body patronus was ready to deliver the message to Ginny:

_Hermione's hurt. We are at St. Mungus_

Harry Knew Ginny would take care of everything. With that he left the Ministry of Magic.

…………..

When Harry got to the fourth floor of the Hospital he rushed through a large corridor that for a moment seemed to have no end. He turned to the right just like the witch at the reception had told him.

Ron was sitting in a chair by the end of the hallway. His head was held between his hands and he didn't seem to notice Harry's arrival. Harry didn't know what to do. He didn't want to say the useless, meaningless words that were constantly given away in moments like this. Instead, he sat next to Ron wondering if it would be the right moment to ask about his friend's condition.

Ron turned over to him to inspect the person that just sat next to him. When he found it was Harry, a sudden relieve was seen on Ron's face. His eyes had a red glow around them.

"How…? What did they tell you? How… is she?", Harry finally asked.

"Mate…", answered Ron after catching his breath. "They haven't come out of there since I brought her. Not one person has passed by".

Harry read the angst in Ron's face.

"But what did they tell you when you got here?"

"Nothing… They wanted to know exactly what happened, so I told them. And they didn't seem to know why she reacted that way so they took her in. That's all I know…"

Harry nodded. He couldn't find smart words for a moment like this. There weren't smart words, especially when he felt the angst himself. He chose silence. So both of them sat in the middle of the waiting hall…waiting.

A few minutes had passed, but Harry felt they were more like hours. Suddenly Ron turned to Harry again remembering he was there.

"What are those things exactly?", asked Ron

"What things...guns?"

"Yes…guns. I had heard about them but I had never seen one before".

"Well…"

"Are they like wands?"

"Well…no, not really." Harry paused for a moment to think of the best way to explain that specific muggle weapon. "It's worst than a wand if you think about it".

"What? How is that possible?"

"Well… a wand has infinite purposes. Guns were only made to…kill. I mean, it's the only reason they were invented, and it's the only use they have. You should see. Muggles work hard to improve them. And there are so many models and sizes and firing capacities…and…"

"That's alright. I heard enough. It sounds like a waste of work".

"Well… it is".

Silence ruled again. Harry was feeling desperate by the minute. On one side he couldn't understand why nobody would come out and tell them what was going on, and on the other side Ron's stillness and silence was really beginning to worry him.

But Ron could barely speak. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth he would instead scream. He kept thinking. A million thoughts were flashing through his head. He wanted to stop them, for thinking only increased his torment. The waiting was just too mush to take. Then he felt guilty and selfish. He was there, completely unharmed and she was the one who got hurt. He couldn't take it.

The uncertainness felt like too much. Finally he felt he couldn't keep silent; he had to let his anxiety out.

"I can't do this Harry", were the first words that came out of his mouth when he felt himself breaking down. "I'm not strong enough".

"What?"

"I can't go through this. And I know it's completely selfish, and that makes me feel even worst. But… the though of something happening to… I can't… I just can't".

Harry wanted to tell him that nothing was going to happen to her but he couldn't get the words out.

"Ron you are not selfish", he decided to say.

"Right. More like a complete coward. Harry, I haven't felt this since… that night at Malfoy Manor… I though she was… Harry I can't even say it!"

Ron stood up and walked to the other side of the hall were a bewitched window showed a beautiful sunset. No, speaking didn't seem to help, so he chose silence again. He stared at the fake view, trying to stop himself from thinking the worst.

Time passed by, minutes, seconds and hours. They remained silent. Silence felt better. From time to time Ron would mutter something that Harry could hardly make out. The rest of the time he would stand still or bring his hands to his face. Harry knew that Ron would have wanted to scream as much as he could, just like Harry had screamed at Alfred. Suddenly Harry spotted a familiar figure walking towards them. When she got closer, Ginny ran to Ron and hugged him. He barely gave the hug back, and he didn't say a word. She walked towards Harry and sat next to him.

"Where's James?", he asked.

"I left him with mum. I begged her to stay at home with him".

"Begged?"

"Yeah… she wanted to come of course. But I didn't want either James or her here".

"Why is that?"

Ginny glanced at Ron who kept distance from them and lowered her voice.

"Well… she got very upset. She said that Ron had been very irresponsible for letting her go".

"But he wasn't! He tried to talk her out of it, and even I tried. She is a big girl you know…We can't control her".

"Well…that's what I told her. Why do you think I took so long? But you know how mum is. She puts too much weight on Ron sometimes, and I supposed he wouldn't take that right now from her, so I had to convince her that it was important for me that she took care of James instead".

Harry nodded.

"So…? How is she?"

"We don't know…they haven't told us anything".

"Oh for Merlin's sake! They shouldn't have you out here just…waiting!"

She grabbed his hand and tried to find the best way to cheer him up.

"You know… I talked to Kingsley. He told me everything", she said

"What? How?"

"Well… when I was at The Burrow leaving James he showed up through the chimney to see if we knew anything about her. From what he said, it might not be as delicate as it seems. He said a protective spell rebounded on her. I'm sure she is going to be fine. I mean, she has to be fine. She just has to…"

Ginny forced a smile. But Harry knew she didn't feel it, and that she was just trying to make him feel better, because she looked as worried as he did. He figured he could share his other worry with her. He felt he needed to tell someone, but he couldn't tell Ron what he thought, it would just make things worst.

"Ginny… you know…there is another thing that really worries me".

"What?"

This time it was Harry the one who lowered his voice.

"Well… Hermione has been acting really weird lately. And well… her behavior reminded me of you when you were pregnant of James and now... well, the thing is that I kind of suspected that Hermione might be…"

"What?", she reacted immediately, she kept her voice down but her tone had lost its sweet sound. "And you knew that? And you just let her go?? Harry James Potter that was completely…"

"No! We were already there when I thought of it! And I wasn't even sure. I don't really know anything about these things!"

Ginny remained silent. If she couldn't find anything to say, it meant that she was really worried as well.

Yes, silence did feel better.


	10. More than Relieved

When I started righting this fic I wasn't sure of how many chapters it was going to take me to get it the way I had it pictured in my head. So far I have ten, and it's coming to an end. But I'm very happy with the reviews I have been getting. Thank you all!!!

Oh! And I don't own Harry Potter or any other character born from the brilliant mind of J.K.Rowling

………………..

Ron remembered for a moment; he remembered all the times he felt blessed beside her. He knew he would give anything away when it came to her, but he was aware of how little he could do for her right now. He knew that when it came to her nothing was enough. There weren't enough words, enough glances or enough perfect moments to let her know, to let her feel how much he was willing to do for her. There wasn't enough time.

Ron remembered how much time had gone by since he met her. He grew up beside her; looking at her, feeling her, learning from her and teaching her as well. He had learned to tolerate her, and then learned to accept her and finally love her. This last one had been easier than the others and much more welcomed. Each year since he knew her he had grown up a little, and it wasn't just because of the circumstances, or the natural course his life had taken. He was certain that growing up apart from her would have been completely different.

But growing up didn't make moments like this any easier, not even growing up in the middle of a war. On the contrary, As time had passed by allowing them to meet, fall in love, admit their love, share their love and commit to each other, the more he felt that time had been against him. He needed all the time there was, even if he had to steal it, to show her how much he needed her.

He needed her, especially at a moment like this. It felt ironic. His thoughts were suddenly tangled with a gentle touch he felt on his hand. He closed his hand to grab the one that had touched his. It wasn't Hermione's hand, but he felt the comfort, as if that hand had just told him what he needed to hear. He turned his face to see his sister glancing at the window he had been staring at the past hours. It now showed a clear night, where millions of stars shared the sky. Ginny wasn't going to say anything. He was thankful for that.

Footsteps were heard from the end of the hall. Ron turned around and understood that they came from the other side of the door where he had seen Hermione one last time. He rushed with Ginny to the place where Harry was sitting. A young, tall man with an inexpressive face walked through the door and towards them. He held a quill in one hand and in the other a lot of parchments.

Ron noticed he had stopped breathing, he still felt Ginny's hand against his. The man stopped in front of the three speechless grownups. Neither of them knew what to say. The healer took one of his parchments and looked for something written in it.

"Are any of you here for a …Hermione Granger Weasley?", he said looking up from the parchment.

"Yes…", said Ginny gathering the breath Ron didn't find. "What happened? how is she?"

"Well, I believe you will be glad to know that she is going to be fine. She is out of danger".

Ron felt the emptiness that had been held in his stomach vanish. Suddenly he remembered he was standing up, he was feeling his body again. His legs hurt, his head hurt, he could say that he felt a bit more alive.

Relief grew on Harry and Ginny's face. But before any of them could say anything to each other the healer interrupted the pleasant private moment.

"You must know that she was in a very delicate situation", he added, as if he was trying to break the happiness. "She was a particular case. I had never received such a case before. She wouldn't react to absolutely anything we tried. She did scare us for a moment. We thought that muggle weapon had done something irreversible. You see…"

"But she's fine now", said Ron, seeking for some sort of approval. "I mean you said…"

"Yes, Mr.…?"

"Weasley"

"Oh! Yes Mr. Weasley. Your wife is completely stable now", said the healer showing a bit of annoyance by Ron's interruption. "But you see, the fact is, after careful examination we found out that she was too delicate to be treated in traditional ways. Do to her condition we…"

"I'm sorry… condition?", interrupted Ron again".

"Yes Mr. Weasley, condition. Every witch has diverse ways of reacting to certain powerful spells when they are expecting".

The healer finished the sentence, but Ron was still waiting for an explanation.

Ginny couldn't hold a scream of excitement. Harry also knew what the healer meant. But Ron seemed to have missed vital information.

"Expecting…? Expecting what?", he said desperately.

The healer rolled his eyes; his behavior suggested little tolerance towards Ron.

"Well, certainly not expecting a much brighter husband!", said Ginny, in hopes of making Ron react. "Ron! A baby! Hermione is expecting a baby!". She stopped for a moment to look at the healer. "She is…isn't she?"

The healer nodded, as if it was the most obvious, every day thing, showing his annoyance for not being permitted to finish his technical explanation.

Ron forgot to breathe… again. He felt dizzy by the minute. The anger, frustration and despair had gone away. And now a whole new set of emotions were getting hold of his body. He still couldn't believe the last words that came out of Ginny's mouth.

"I'm sorry I took so long!", said a voice from behind.

Harry and Ginny turned around. Ron was still trying to focus. George had just arrived.

"I tried to get here as soon as dad delivered your message Ginny", he said, "what happened?"

"Nothing! It doesn't matter anymore!", she said sharing her excitement. "Hermione is pregnant!"

"What? Well what do you know! That's bloody great!!", said George immediately. "But you know sis; you could have found a less stressful way to give out the news. We were all bloody worried! Hey, way to go baby brother! "He said hitting Ron hard on the back and messing his hair".

Ron finally gave away a smile, the biggest smile he could show. He was certainly not expecting to hear that, and aside from Hermione being fine, he had just heard the best news of the day. The shock on his face wasn't gone yet, it would take a couple of minutes for Ron to recover his color.

Harry stood there watching Ron come back to life, and feeling the biggest of joys. His supposition had been right, and best of all, everything was right the way he felt it had to be.

The healer stood impatiently beside the four of them. After a couple of minutes he looked at Ron, wondering if he could speak to him now.

"Well Mr. Weasley, you can come in and see your wife".

"She's awake?"

"Yes. I tried to tell you sooner but it was quite hard. You can come in with two more, only Family of course".

"Well… he's her brother", said Ron pointing at Harry without hesitating.

"Very well then. You two can follow me".

"I'm not staying out here. I want to see her. I'm related to both of them...", stated Ginny. "…In different ways".

"Very well! But just the three of you! I can't have the entire leaky cauldron in there!", said the healer rolling his eyes again.

"You don't mind?", she asked George.

"No that's fine", he answered. "I'll send an owl to mum, and dad is sure to be here any minute with the Grangers. I can keep them updated. Oh! But be sure to tell Hermione to please give us her next good news like regular people do: with wine and dinner!".

Harry, Ginny and Ron left with the healer, feeling...a bit more than relieved.


	11. Too Many Emotions

Well… Here is chapter eleven. So far I've been writing each chapter chosing mainly the point of view of one of the trio for each chapter . These last two belong mostly to Ron. Hope you like it! Thanks again for the reviews! **Please please keep reviewing!**

……………………………………..

The healer led them through a lonely corridor. They followed him impatiently. Ginny and Harry walked beside them, meanwhile Ron kept a slow pace behind.

"Is she still under any kind of risk?", asked Ginny.

"Well, we believe she is going to be fine, but we do suggest she takes care of herself these next months. She shouldn't take any risks, and she should keep an eye on her condition…"

The healer went on explaining the strange case Hermione had been for him, and that they had been lucky it didn't get any worst. By that time Ron wasn't listening anymore, not only because listening to him only increased his nerves again, but because what he had just heard was too big to get outside his head. Since he had heard those few words he couldn't think of anything else. A couple of words had just changed his life drastically. A few minutes ago he had felt desperate and hopeless, and now… well now he couldn't explain it, he wasn't sure of what he felt.

He heard from a distance Ginny's voice saying something to the healer. He wasn't sure it was them. Was it true? Could it possibly be a mistake? No, he knew it couldn't.

Hermione and Ron had talked about having kids a lot of times, but they mainly joked innocently about it. They had discussed how many children they would have. Ron would always tease Hermione suggesting her that he expected a big family like the one his mom and dad had made. That would always freak her out. They also played sorting out possible names countless times. And…again he would mostly tease her giving out the most terrible names he could think of. That would always get Hermione mad, and she ended up claiming that he didn't take anything seriously. And then…there were the few times when late at night, in bed, they had small sweet talks that somehow ended up in the baby subject. Of course he had thought of it more than once. But now it wasn't a thought or a future aspiration. He was handling a fact. It wasn't up to him or Hermione to decide anymore. Ron was finally going to be a….

"Ron, would you catch up already?", exclaimed Ginny standing a few feet away.

Ron had stopped walking. He kept staring at the floor. Thinking of what he was going to become from now on.

"If he keeps behaving this way you might as well leave him here", whispered the healer to Ginny.

Harry walked back towards his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ron…Are you alright?"

"I'm… I'll have…We are… I'm going to…"

"Ron, she's waiting for you…Cut it out!", said Ginny keeping her distance.

Grabbing him by the shoulder, Harry dragged his friend as they started walking again. Ron kept mumbling the same incoherent words.

They finally reached the door the healer was looking for.

"Here we are. You can go right in. But make sure she doesn't get too exhilarated… in any way", he ordered looking at Ron particularly. "I'll be back in a while to check on her".

When the healer turned around and continued the trail the hall led, Ginny placed a hand on the doorknob.

"Wait!", said Ron, being this the first meaningful word he pronounced. "Do you mind if I go in first?"

"Oh! Of course…", she answered as she moved apart from the door. "Ron, just… try not to… you know…scare her".

Ron would have normally fought his sister's comment back. But he didn't seem to hear her. He placed a hand on the doorknob, turned it, opened the door and walked in. He immediately turned to close the door behind him. When he turned back, and to his surprise, he saw his wife out of the bed and pacing around in circles. She heard him and turned around to see who had just came in. She froze when she confirmed that it was Ron the one that had just entered the room.

They kept their distance. Both of them stood like rocks glued to the floor. Hermione was absolutely concerned about Ron's reaction. But Ron…Ron was looking at her. She, beyond the pale tone she currently had due to the recent incident, looked beautiful. He knew how much he could have lost today, but as he saw her standing still with her hair messed up and her intense brown eyes focused on his, he suddenly understood how much he had gained. He had been given the chance of finally forming a family…a family and a life with the only woman he ever dreamed of. The blur and the confusion fell out of his mind. This new feeling was too great to be scared about it.

He reacted immediately. He didn't know how long he had stood there looking at her. He didn't know why he was still standing far from her. Ron ran towards Hermione and hugged her as strong as he could. She hugged him back but kept her silence.

"You really scared me…", he said after a brief moment of silence. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. He could feel her heart beat fast.

"I love you", he said softly to her ear. Hermione hugged him even harder. She didn't seem to want to let him go, but she still didn't say a word.

After a brief moment he gently broke the hug and placed both of his hands on Hermione's face. He wanted to look at her straight in the eyes. He always tried to understand her wondering into her eyes, but not always succeeded. She was too complex, she always had been. But this time he found it rather easy. Her brown eyes were wide open, wearing the evident look of expectation. Small tears ran down her face. He felt her breathing deeply. He knew what was concerning her. He smiled at her. This wasn't a comfort smile, it was a real smile, and it couldn't get more real than this.

"Did they…", she finally tried to pop a question on him, but he interrupted her.

"Yes they told me", he said still wearing the huge smile that only a moment like this could inspire on him. "I couldn't believe it...we are…we are going to be…"

"Yes we are!", she cut him excited. No more words were needed. Hermione hugged him strongly as he lifted her a few inches from the ground.

He searched for her lips. When he found them he kissed her. It felt new but familiar. He felt it had been years since their last kiss. Their lips recognized each other immediately. The softness, passion and pleasure felt completely familiar; but this kind of excitement and expectation felt entirely new. There was definitely something different in this kiss. She responded with the same amount of passion he was provoking. Her heart was still beating fast.

When he placed her on the ground again, breaking the kiss, he saw the drastic change in her eyes. They were still wet, but this time they were thrilled, secure and completely happy.

"I love you", she said smiling.

"I love you too".

He brought her gently against him and hugged her again. For a few minutes he forgot about everything. He forgot about the accident and the angst he had felt. He forgot about everything related to the past hours. He could only think of…the three of them.

Gentle knocks were heard on the door. Ron remembered he had left Ginny and Harry outside waiting.

"Come in", he said still holding on to Hermione.

His sister and his best friend came in, both looking worried. As soon as they saw the relaxed couple, they both gave out their excitement.

Ginny ran thrilled towards Hermione and hugged her.

"Congratulations!", she said with the most sincere smile.

"Mate, I see you reacted! For a moment you had me worried. Congratulations", he said hitting Ron on the back.

Ron smiled and stared at her wife for a moment.

"Wait a minute!", he said, "you shouldn't be standing! What are you doing out of bed? The healer said you have to be careful".

"Ron! I couldn't just…stay there!", she replied.

"Well, you have to get back into bed", he insisted.

He managed to sit her down. But she refused to get completely into the bed again.

Harry walked towards her when Ron was finished trying to convince her unsuccessfully. He sat next to Hermione smiling softly. He grabbed her hand gently, lowered his voice and said:

"You really scared us all. I was bloody worried about you".

"You knew, didn't you?"

He nodded

"I only suspected it".

"See Harry… I promised you I would go straight to St. Mungu's after the mission".

"Never, ever say that again. That isn't funny", he answered shaking his head. He smiled for a moment while he rubbed her hand. "I'm really happy for you two".

She smiled back

"You should have seen Ron's face when the healer told him!", he said, this time allowing Ron and Ginny to hear him.

"Oh yes Hermione! That was completely hilarious", replied Ginny.

"No it wasn't!", argued immediately Ron.

"Honestly Ron…I would have paid good money to see your face as well", said Hermione laughing. "That is… if I wouldn't have been completely shocked and scared to death myself", she admitted.

Ron smiled at his wife, remembering the face she had the minute he walked in the room. Hermione Granger Weasley had been as scared as him after hearing the news. That was a new one. He held his smile towards her thinking that, at least right now; life couldn't get better than this.


	12. Expecting witches have weird behaviors

Sorry it took me so long to update. Anyway, hope you like it! Please remember to review!

…………

Hermione sat on the couch in front of the chimney doing the same thing she had been doing this past two weeks: reading. Each time she turned a page over she raised her eyes to check the fireplace, and from time to time she couldn't help but gazing at the clock that was hanging on the living room wall. She had been reading for hours now, actually she had been reading for days, and she had to admit that reading was starting to bore her for the first time in her life.

The house was completely still. She noticed how lonely the place felt whenever one of them was absent. When they were both in the house it didn't feel lonely or quiet. She suddenly smiled at a new though: this peace and stillness was going to disappear in a matter of months, and she was looking forward to it.

Her first week after leaving St Mungus had been rather dreadful. She felt tired most of the time, and for a moment she thought that the constant morning sickness was definitely going to kill her. Even Ginny admitted that her first weeks hadn't been that bad. But the healer assured them several times that her reaction was normal after the especial circumstances she had been forced to experience. Still, Ron got extremely nervous each time she had a downfall. Every day he insisted on seeing the healer again, and he came home from work constantly in the middle of the day to check on her.

But now that the first week after the accident had gone by, taking away it's most horrible moments, Hermione felt much better, more relaxed, and surer that she was going to survive these months of pregnancy. She was in fact more worried about Ron, who didn't seem to control his nerves some times, and who was clearly having trouble dealing with her "few" and certainly very small reactions of bad humor. She knew that Ron was a temperamental man himself so these were probably going to be a few "fun" months of taking on each other nerves.

This was just the beginning of a long nine months, she thought. Ginny had already given her tips on how to deal with expecting fathers. She assured Hermione that when it came to having their first baby men could lose all of their Gryffindor innate courage. _"You will probably have to deal a lot more with Ron than with the baby, because let's face it: my brother isn't very easy to handle"_ she had said. _"But let's just hope that at least Harry can manage to give out a couple of good advices to him"_, she concluded crossing her fingers.

Hermione couldn't hold a silent smile. Since the day she got together with Ron she had been surprised by him more than once. He, of course, wasn't the same fifteen year old boy she had learned to love. Throughout all the years she had been with him, even before getting married, he had demonstrated to be exactly the men she always knew he was. So yes, Ron was temperamental, stubborn and he had a special aptitude for driving her crazy like no other person in the world could-in both good and bad ways-. But he was indeed crazy about her, he had such a huge heart, he was caring and there wasn't a day she didn't fell loved. So, she was confident that he would do just fine these few months. Well…maybe with a few typical Ron screw ups now and then.

Hermione sighted, looking again at the clock and back at the fireplace. She completely forgot she was reading. Finally the ashes resting in the fireplace showed her a familiar movement. Hermione closed the book immediately as she saw Ron appear through the chimney. She smiled at him but noticed right away his obvious bad humor.

Ron immediately tried to cover his bad humor and responded with a smile as he walked towards her and greeted her lips with a kiss. A second later he threw himself on the same couch she was sitting on and closed his eyes showing a huge relieve to be at home.

"Bad day?", she asked as she ran her fingers through his vivid red hair.

"The worst" he said. He soon realized he was answering with a bit of drama on his tone. "Well...not the worst, but not the best either. You would think it's easy to find a capable auror to take over a simple assignment but, you know, I don't trust anybody these days. But never mind all that, what about you? What have you been up to? How do you feel?", he asked her rubbing gently his hand on Hermione's thigh.

"I feel fine…too fine. I haven't felt sick or anything in the past few days. I'm perfect! But I've been sitting here for so many days doing nothing that I'm getting tired of seeing the same walls. I have nothing else to do but read and the guys at the office won't let me take any work home".

"When the healer gave you three weeks of rest you said that at least you would catch up on your reading", said Ron trying in vain to hold a mocking laugh. "What? You cached up in two weeks?"

"Very clever", she answered giving him a very unfriendly look. Ron did a harder job to contain his laughter after the look his wife shot at him. Her mood had become quite an issue for him, so he had decided it was best if he followed his father's last advice and just try to never give her reasons to get mad...at least these first few months. Harry also had warned him about pregnant witches. He said that Ginny had been quite a handful the first time. Her mood was completely unpredictable. Of course, she was a Weasley. Weasleys were short tempered, but Hermione wasn't a pumpkin pie herself. _"If she ever gets too intense, reach for her wand immediately. And don't give it back to her no matter what. I learned that the hard way with Ginny. Besides, we both know Hermione is aware that spells are her best weapon",_ said Harry with a very serious tone. So Ron was determined to do his best and not lose his temper before his wife did. He washed the mocking laugh off his mouth and listened to her.

"Besides Ron", she continued with a frustrated tone. "I honestly think that three weeks was over the top. I think he exaggerated".

"Lets not get into that again. Besides, you should be enjoying it! I've been dealing with a couple of incompetent wizards these last few days. Not to mention that I still haven't got rid of that Alfred character".

"Ron! Are you still on to that?", said Hermione with a tone of desperation.

"Of course I am!! What did you expect? I'm not going to be happy until he gets what he deserves", he answered with an exclamatory but calmed voice.

"Oh Ron! That is so you! You just can't let it go, can you? For Merlin's sake! He is just a kid!"

"A what? Hermione he is only a few years younger than us!!!"

"Well yeah, that was not what I meant...What I'm trying to..."

"Sorry to break the news to you", interrupted Ron abruptly, "but when we were half his age we weren't jumping around thinking that everything was some sort of game. We knew better! I was never as stupid as he was! Do you have any idea of what he could have caused? ...Of what he could have done to you? He messed with you Hermione, and I'm not letting that one go".

"Ron, it's not like he was the one shooting the gun..."

"No, you are right. He was the idiotic reason that...gun thing... got shot in the first place!"

"Well yes, he is very immature and a bit arrogant but..."

"A bit??"

"Alright, a lot".

"I can't believe you are defending him. He is the reason you got three weeks of rest!"

"Ron, I am not defending him, but he is scared enough already! And Kingsley knows what he is doing! He is making sure he gets transferred again, and from what I hear he'll make this incident stay on his record. Alfred is probably going to gain a terrible reputation wherever he's going. That's bad enough..."

"From the way I see it...that's not enough."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron. She knew there was no point on trying to convince him of leaving the guy alone. Well... maybe she could give it one last shot.

"Listen, I'm not asking you to help him out. And I'm not going to try to get you to understand the situation anymore...but can you at least stop trying to make his life miserable? Believe me; he is going to get enough of that. Ron, people make mistakes..."

"Stupid dangerous mistakes"

"Alright, stupid dangerous mistakes. Will you just leave him alone? You testified against him, that's enough!"

Ron remained silent staring at the fireplace. Hermione knew he wasn't going to let it go completely but at least his silence gave her reasons to think that he wasn't going to push the case anymore. She rubbed his arm gently for a while until she felt the tension drop from his muscles. A few seconds later she heard a delicate "Alright" mumbling out of his mouth, so she smiled at him.

"Do you know who was here today?", she said as she wondered her fingers up and down his arm.

"Who?"

"Teddy. Ginny brought him. She said he insisted on visiting me to make sure I was alright, and he wanted to congratulate me as well".

"That sounds like Teddy for sure", he replied with a smile.

"Yes, he is really sweet. He also said he is going to be a bad wizard catcher when he grows up, that way he can make sure nothing happens to me or the baby".

"Yeah well, we could use someone with that amount of enthusiasm. Let's hope he keeps it up".

A couple of minutes later Hermione decided that she couldn't wait any longer to tell Ron the idea that had been wondering in her head.

"Ron...you know, there is something I wanted to ask you".

Ron looked at her in expectation

"You know how my parents are. They will always believe in muggle medicine far more than in our ways of healing. Of course I can understand them but I still don't agree with them. Anyway, my mom suggested the last time she was here that maybe I should consider going to a muggle doctor just once to check on the baby...just to drop any doubts of possible risks".

"What?", Ron gave her a look that clearly begged her to change her mind. "Hermione those...muggle healers are terrible. They have the worst ways of healing I've ever heard of in my life!! Remember what happened to dad when he tried to sew his wound? I mean, sewing a wound! What kind of crazy idea is that?"

"I know Ron. I didn't agree with her. I'm going to be treated in our traditional ways..."

"But?"

"Well...but my mom's suggestion gave me an idea. There is something I want to do first that requires a doctor for. And…I want you to come with me"

"Pregnant woman really do behave strangely", said Ron. He instantaneously cached Hermione's murdering eyes and realized he had said the wrong thing. "Sorry", he said immediately. He lowered his voice and smiled at her. "But…you have to admit its true", he added his last statement after kissing the corner of her lips. She didn't stop him, which probably meant that she didn't feel so offended. He grabbed her chin gently and tested her with a smile. She gave him a weak smile back, but that was enough to know that she wasn't really mad. He kissed her again softly on the lips and slowly drove his insinuating kisses to her cheek and down her neck.

She loved that, it always made her knees weak, and he knew it. So she hated the fact that he used it when he wanted something. He was smart though; he didn't use that technique all the time, she thought he probably didn't want to wear it out. This time he was probably trying to achieve two things at once, and one of them was getting her to forget the subject.

"Ron", she protested softly closing her eyes as he successfully reached her collar bone. "Come on, I'm serious…Please come with me". There was a short pause. "There is something... I want you to see with me".

Ron broke his concentration for a moment and looked up to meet her eyes.

"What? Hermione...no...Please, be reasonable. Hermione don't give me that look!"

"Please...it really means a lot to me. It would really mean a lot".

"Are you trying to manipulate me?", he asked amazed.

"No! But it would really mean a lot..."

Ron gave Hermione a desperate look. Clearly he was waiting for her to snap out of such a crazy idea. Her eyes instead kept firm and expected an answer.

"What is it that is so important? Why do you want this so much?"

"I won't tell you, I want to show it to you".

"Show me what?"

"Ron! Stop asking questions and just say yes! Do you have to question everything? Can't you just trust me?"

"Alright, alright!", he noticed she was definitely taking this too seriously. He knew exactly what he had to do. He took a deep breath and decided to agree with her."We'll go", he said with a defeated voice.

Hermione gave him the biggest of smiles and hugged him instantly.

"I have to go first to make the appointment. My mom is going to recommend me a Gynecologist".

"A what?"

"Never mind that. And I am probably going to have to take some blood tests first; I'll go with my mom to that. You will go with me to the appointment at the..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that", he interrupted, "Blood tests?"

"Yes, it's a muggle thing. They take some blood and test it", she explained with nature.

Ron's eyes went round. Hermione knew that if Ron were a muggle, he would probably be the type of men who couldn't take a simple blood test without fainting.

"You must be joking", he said. "Blood? They actually take blood? Hermione…"

"Oh Ron, don't make such a big deal out of it. Its fine, everybody does it. You will just go with me to the appointment. But I can't get an appointment for the first time without getting tested".

Ron looked confused, so Hermione decided to stop the apparently technical explanation. She kissed his forehead and smiled at him.

"Never mind. Thanks for agreeing", she said making sure he wasn't going to change his mind.

He kept his silence looking at her with slight disbelieve, but returned a soft smile back at her, especially after she reached his lips with hers. Ron returned the kiss with pleasure.

"Oh! But there is one thing", said Ron as he broke apart. "Don't tell anybody yet. Harry will mock me to death, my mum will do anything to convince you of not going…", he paused for a second. "Well, on second thought, that wouldn't be bad at all. You can tell my mum".

"Ron!", she protested hitting him on the arm.

"I'm joking! I'm joking! And finally if dad finds out he will probably want to come with us".

Hermione laughed at the thought. It sounded like a joke, but it certainly wasn't far from Mr. Weasley's behavior towards muggles.

"Alright then…", she said as she approached his ear with her lips. When she was close enough she let her last words out through a whisper. "I won't tell". She noticed how the skin of his neck shivered. He loved that, and she knew it, so she generally used it when she wanted something. She also knew that whispering to his ear could only be topped by gently biting it, so she did that as well.

Ron grinned at Hermione. Her body language was even more obvious than his. He embraced her in a way he used whenever he wanted to trap her; she could never free herself without a wand. She didn't protest, instead she gave him a smile.

"How have you been feeling today?", he asked with a curious smile

"Never better", she answered with a grin.

He took the answer as a clear sign that suggested that he could go back to her neck, so he did. He kissed her seductively starting at the corner of her ear and slowly went down to reclaim the property of her collar bone. As he felt her hand running through his back, he quickly forgot the fact that he had just agreed to what his mum would have called _a very, very stupid thing_. Yes, he could worry about that later, or maybe not even worry at all.


	13. Rose

A/N: Alright, last chapter BUT I can't help it, I'll add an epilogue!

I'd like to thank those who have reviewed this story so far, it really means a lot to me. Once again I apologise for the delay. I didn't have much time to write until now. But I'm working on other Ron/Hermione pieces so please stay tuned!

Disclaimer: I, obviously, don't own the Harry Potter world.

Hermione searched for a few pieces of clean parchment, her favourite quill and her latest unfinished inform. After throwing inside her bag two of the books she had missed the most she inspected her office one more time. She could tell immediately that her co-workers had gone through her stuff, probably looking for some of her notes to work on the cases she had left unfinished. They tried to be very careful but she could always tell when somebody touched her things. Hermione sighed, knowing that Kingsley had given them explicit instructions of not to bother her at all while she was on her forced hiatus.

She managed to fix her desk with a few flicks of her wand and after reassuring herself that everything was in proper order she headed to leave her solitary office. It had been only two weeks, and she was supposed to be at home resting and doing absolutely nothing for a whole other week, but she decided it was best to use her free time updating some of the work that had been piling up, waiting for her return. She had practically sneaked in the ministry as a common burglar, for she wasn't going to put up with another one of Ron's medical lectures. She walked out and closed the door trying to keep as much silence as possible, but as she turned around she felt herself crushing against another body. Her heavy bag fell to the floor, dropping its entire content. The man kneeled nervously on the floor and started to gather all of her things together. He hadn't even seen her, he seemed too distracted, but she recognized him immediately. Tall, grey eyes, still handsome, but somehow different. His hair didn't seem as perfect, he looked a lot thinner than the last time she had seen him and small bags were showing under his young eyes. She leaned down a bit to look at him closely.

"Alfred?"

The man looked up and his face lost its last bit of colour. He froze holding Hermione's parchments in one hand and her bag on the other. He opened his mouth but closed it again, unable to talk at all. Hermione knew that after Ron, she was the last person he wanted to bump into.

"Hi" she said plainly, holding her glance firm. He got up, straightened himself and handed her the bag after putting inside the last parchment. He opened his mouth again and struggled for a few seconds.

"Hi" he finally said, his voice trembling. They stood silently for a moment, she was waiting for his reaction and she knew that he was doing the same.

"I—I um—I heard." He said. "Congratulations. That's wonderful".

"Thanks", she said. A radiant smile grew involuntarily on her face. She felt unexplainably happy when somebody congratulated her. Another silence followed them. Alfred's silence was new to her. She hadn't known him very long, but a few weeks ago she had known an enthusiastic Alfred, an Alfred who wouldn't shut up. A young man who spent half the time bragging about himself and the other half flirting with every girl that breathed next to him, it was part of his nature. This Alfred was just different. None of that enthusiasm could be seen on his face. The silence grew longer, and she had already decided to turn around and leave when Alfred opened his mouth again.

"Hermione, I—I'm—I'm really sorry" He said looking at her in the eyes for the first time. He breathed deeply and kept talking. "It was an accident, I didn't know. I didn't mean to… it's all my fault but I didn't mean to. I really am sorry". His voice was unsteady, he seemed to be looking for a better choice of words. Hermione just nodded.

"I know…its fine now" she said plainly. Alfred frowned.

"That's it?" He said, looking uncertain. Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, that's it", she answered. "Nothing terrible happened, and I assume you had your share of shouts already."

"Well yes, as a matter of fact I did. Everybody who knows you hates me. And since everybody here knows you…" She smiled at him sincerely.

"Yes, I assumed they would give you a hard time". Alfred seemed to relax a bit, as if he had been released from a heavy load.

"I can't even walk by the auror's department anymore. Ron is…well… he's still a bit upset. But I really am sorry, I mean… I should have known better."

"Yes, you should have," she said.

"Anyway, I'm getting transferred. I'll be out by the end of the week."

Hermione couldn't help feeling bad for him. These past weeks had probably been the worst of Alfred's career. She could tell he looked miserable.

"France?" she asked.

"Yes, but I won't be staying there. I'm not very welcomed there either, Kingsley made sure of that. I'm thinking about volunteering for the first long distance job that comes up. I'm sure I'll find something better than France. Besides, I'm fond of travelling around".

"I know. Anyway, I hope everything goes well" she said.

"Thanks."

She hesitated for a moment.

"Alfred, I just hope you got the best out of this, I hope you learned something". A short silence followed her last words, as if he was waiting for her to continue her lecture.

"Don't worry, I did" he replied after a moment, smiling shyly for the first time. "Good luck with that baby, I hear they're a handful".

"Yes, that's what they say". She said returning the smile as she fixed her bag properly over her shoulder. "Oh, and do me a favour, you didn't see me here."

"Hey, it's the least I can do, isn't it?" he said shrugging his shoulders.

She turned and headed for the closest chimney thinking that after all he was just a kid. Highly immature? Yes. Dangerous? No. And no matter what Ron and Harry said, he had a lot to deal with already.

----------------------------

Months had passed since their talk about visiting the so called 'doctors'. A few weeks after he had agreed to such amount of nonsense, Hermione had mentioned she'd rather wait a couple of months to go. In the meantime they would deal with a good old fashion healer. But Ron had hoped for the impossible: he had hoped for his wife to forget about the muggle healer, so he never mentioned it again.

There hadn't been much time to think about it anyway. Their first months as new expecting parents had been quite…interesting. Against Ron's desire, Hermione had gone back to work the exact day the healer had allowed it. But at first Hermione's sickness came and went as they pleased. There were days when she couldn't step out of bed, and then there were days when she wouldn't stop working for a minute, claiming that she was awfully busy. Ron was sure that Hermione needed to stay at home, and Hermione was sure that she needed to stay out of it. This small disagreement brought Ron more headaches than he had been expecting. Finally, after enough unpleasant moments, the sickness left for good leaving Ron and Hermione to deal with _other_ type of symptoms.

Truth was that, to Ron, Hermione had never looked more defenceless. She was working hard at the ministry trying to make up for her absence but she was also trying to dominate the pregnancy issue. The usual books that use to cover her nightstand were replaced by both muggle and wizard books about first time expecting parents. But nothing she read seemed to really satisfy her. She always looked concerned when anything new happened to her body. She looked even more concerned about the responsibilities they would have to handle once the baby was born. At first, Ron actually found her endearing. It was sweet to see her struggling for not knowing everything there was to know about something that wasn't Quidditch.

But she wasn't always endearing. She had, after all, to deal with unknown territory. She was bound to face a crisis anytime soon. Ron could only expect as much.

He kept insisting that she was doing well but things seemed to be escaping her hands, and after a few weeks she started to look frustrated. Her mood changes were beginning to be frequent and they were starting to get on her nerves (not to mention on Ron's nerves as well). Some days she was sweet and easy to handle and the others she was simply…unattainable. But, following his father's early advice, Ron tried to handle the situation as patient as possible. Common reason and a few years of marriage, had taught Ron how to notice when he was entering dangerous territory.

Unfortunately, Hermione's temper had become unpredictable and one night it reached its predictable limit. Hermione was in a particular unpleasant mood and Ron made the mistake of letting her know that he was beginning to worry.

"It's a baby we are expecting you know, it's not like you are studying to take the NEWTS". The minute he said it he could tell he had crossed that predictable limit in Hermione's temper. Of course, she only took this as an insult, which led to the very first argument they had had in weeks.

"Oh that's clever Ron. Thank you so much for clearing that out for me, I wasn't aware it was a baby what we were expecting, since I'm _not_the one who is carrying it."

She claimed that he wasn't seeing the delicacy of the situation and that they had to be prepared for everything that was coming up. He claimed that she was obsessing with the situation. Apparently that was what Hermione needed, for she was releasing a whole amount of energy through their discussion. Unfortunately for Ron, she got a bit _too_ exhilarated and the not very small edition of _the keys and charms for expecting witches_ that she had been waving at him_ slipped_ accidently from Hermione's hand and landed on Ron's forehead.

As he covered his soared head with his hands, wondering what in the world could have gotten her that mad, Hermione ran towards him looking sincerely worried and swearing that it had been an accident. As she covered every inch of his bumped face with small, short kisses while handing out constant apologies, she promised him she was going to let her guard down with the whole baby issue. Ron took her word on that and decided to forgive her faster than expected, but not without letting her know how much he had not deserved that. He thought that he might as well take advantage of how guilty she felt for the accident. So, as a pleasant result, he let her spent the next days trying to make up for her irrational behaviour in every way she could think of.

Of course, it hadn't all been book throwing. After surviving that particular incident –which was labelled by Ron as Hermione's first panic attack-, the couple got to savour the good moments of expecting.

Hermione managed to keep her promise. After weeks she was handling the matter a bit more relaxed and she seemed much more comfortable. Truth was that she felt much more secure as well. Her Belly was beginning to show a pronounced bump. She had started to wear dresses more often and Ron could hear her humming frequently. Her hair seemed softer and lighter, which gave her enough reasons to wear it down constantly. Even her skin was softer than usual. She was radiant, and it was now easy to tell that she was pregnant.

Ron's transfiguration could be seen as well. While Hermione gained security with every day that passed, Ron lost his. He was always concerned about her, the thing that worried him the most was the accident she had suffered five months ago. The healer had recommended them to be delicate about her condition. Even though there was nothing to worry about, he reminded her that she had experienced an unusual reaction to her own protective spell and gave her a list of precautions to follow. Ron was determined to follow them faithfully, far more than Hermione, who was convinced that half of them weren't even necessary. She even felt insulted when the healer suggested her to stop using certain charms that were maybe too powerful for her to handle.

"I'm telling you Ron, that healer has it against me. Not being able to handle my own charms? That's rubbish", she said that same day walking out of St. Mungo's.

But Ron's drastic change came the day Harry and Ginny's second son was born. Two weeks early Ginny had gone into labour and Harry was nowhere in the British territory. That morning he had been forced to leave to somewhere in east Russia to interrogate an important witness they had been tracking for months.

When Ron and Hermione got to St. Mungo's they found Mrs. Weasley trying to calm Ginny down, she was shouting that she wasn't going to have anything until Harry got there. Since that wasn't really an option for her Ron ran off to find Harry. It took him a lot longer than expected, and for a while he thought he wouldn't find him on time. Once he finally found Harry and gave him the news, the two friends apparated as fast as magically possible in the entrance of St. Mungo's.

When James was born, Harry had been hopelessly nervous throughout the entire process. Ron had spent most of his time making fun of him. This time Harry's behaviour didn't change much, if anything he was worst. Ron, on the other hand, wasn't capable of joking or mocking Harry anymore. He couldn't possibly think of a clever joke when he was experiencing a prelude of what was sure to happen to him in a matter of months.

After hours of a stressful waiting, the second Potter son was born, a surprise to Ginny who was sure they were to have a girl. Her disappointment didn't last very long though. She, like everybody else, was too busy admiring the baby's features. Smaller than most newborns, with a dazzling set of emerald eyes and light forms of black hair, no trace of freckles or red hairs whatsoever. Hermione couldn't hold back her tears the second she saw him. But Ron was left with a new amount of things to worry about.

"What if something went wrong?" He asked Hermione a few days later, while they rested in their sofa in front of the fire.

"Ron, nothing is going to go wrong", she answered patiently keeping her interest in the book she was reading.

"But the healer said—"

"The healer is just taking extra precautions," she said bitterly.

"But—what if I wasn't there? What if you need me and I'm not there? It could be any day! I know one thing: I'm not taking any assignments until that baby is born."

"Ron that's sweet but nothing is happening for the next four months."

"I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled as she put her book down.

"Ron I'm sure I can find a way to keep us in touch, like the coins I put the spell on to keep the DA communicated. But if what you are so worried about is my safety then maybe we should go to the doctor like we said we would. It wouldn't hurt you to hear another opinion".

"Merlin! I thought you had forgotten!"

"You mean you hoped I had forgotten," she said raising her eyebrow.

"Same thing. Anyway, a '_doctor_' would have no idea about your magical condition, he wouldn't make a difference."

"We better not get into that discussion again, please."

"Yes, we better not," he answered grumpily.

-------------------------------------------------

Pacing didn't do him any good, if anything it made him more nervous. It was unnecessary, he though. They didn't need to be kept waiting for a doctor when they had a perfectly sane healer to consult. And yet there he was, in the doctor's consulting room, waiting for him.

It only took Hermione a couple of days to get her crazy idea back in track. A week after their discussion she informed Ron that she had made an appointment. She had gone to a muggle hospital and found a doctor recommended by her mother. That was enough reason to get Ron upset for the following days. He couldn't stop thinking of how unnecessary that was, and the fact that he had agreed in the first place only made it worst.

He paced around the consulting room murmuring unexplainable things while Hermione laid in the strangest bed he had ever seen.

"We can still leave, you know." He finally said

"Ron..."

"I'm serious. Look at this place! It's terrifying!"

"Ron..."

"That thing...you can't tell if it's a bed or a chair."

"Ron, please"

"And those! Look at those! I'm telling you, muggles use the strangest tools. They're almost as spooky as the ones Gensy was collecting. It's just—"

"RON!"

"What?", he asked appearing to be surprised by her reaction.

"You're freaking me out!"

"Good, join the club, will you?"

"Will you just relax? And try to act normal in front o her."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, you know what I mean Ron."

Ron's following reply was interrupted by the opening of a door. Into the room walked a short thin woman, black short hair, gentle smile. She was carrying a folder labelled Weasley.

"Good morning", she said with a singing tone in her voice.

Hermione saluted back but Ron managed to make a strange movement with his head.

"Well, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, is it? How are you doing today?"

"Um, very well," answered Hermione catching the impolite look Ron was giving her.

The woman sat next to Hermione and opened a folder she had been carrying, apparently unaware of Ron's behaviour. She examined the folder for a couple of seconds.

"Good then. Excellent. Everything seems to be perfect. Five months and one week. The tests results show that everything is indeed normal." Hermione smiled, and the doctor raised her eyes to look straight at the couple.

"I understand you already have a doctor, but you wanted a second opinion. From what you said earlier Mrs. Weasley, you have been handling a delicate condition". She looked at the folder again and read a few lines in silence. Then she proceeded. "You suffered an accident during your first weeks."

"Yes, we just wanted to make sure—you see he gave me this list of things I shouldn't do and well...I don't think it's really that necessary."

"What kind of accident did you suffer?"

"Well...um, I kind of—"

"She tripped and fell down our stairs", snapped Ron. "We didn't even know that she was pregnant until then. She was unconscious for a long time and after that the heale—doctor recommended her to be careful". He was still frowning a bit, but grabbed Hermione's hand. He decided that as long as they were there he should at least be helpful. "I'm sorry, but our hea—doctor is right. She should at least take things easily. But she won't listen much to me either. I didn't even want to come here in the first—"

"Ron!"

"I see", said the doctor, who was now manipulating some of the weirdest implements Ron had ever seen. She turned on what looked like a small television. "Well, Mrs. Weasley, I understand it's hard for today's modern woman to leave work along with their everyday routines, but your husband is right. It's always wise to get a second opinion but if this doctor has been treating you since the very beginning then he probably knows what's best". The woman sustained her warm smile, and when Hermione looked up at Ron he was already looking down at her with his 'I told you so' eyes. She blushed slightly and bit her lips, she was about to say something when the woman spoke ahead of her.

"And about that list, it can't be that bad, can it? I'm sure he suggested you to stay away from heavy loads, avoid stairs and he probably told you to take work easily. Am I right? It's only the usual, nothing to complain about."

"Yes," she said with a tone of resignation. "The usual."

"Well, as long as we are here, we can get a closer view of that baby, shall we?" said the doctor as she lifted Hermione's rope and placed a transparent liquid on her bare skin.

"What now?" said Ron, still holding her hand but giving out a look that pleaded a fast getaway.

"This is why I brought you here", she answered in a tone so soft that even Ron had trouble hearing.

In a matter of moments, the screen on the television was showing a weird black and white shape. Hermione gasped and Ron leaned a bit closer trying to make out whatever he was supposed to be seeing.

"There it is. Already very well formed. Can you make it out? Head, feet, look that's one hand."

Ron looked down at his wife amused by the doctor's directions. "What? Is that supposed to be..."

Hermione nodded, eyes filled with tears. She could barely speak. She was almost holding her breath. Ron looked back at the doctor looking for a logical explanation. The woman was frowning, not really understanding the situation. He finally asked the question again, not believing his eyes.

"That, in the television... Is that—"

"Mr. Weasley, I'm sure this isn't the first time you've seen it. You have another doctor after all."

"He's very conservative," said Hermione in a low voice, eyes fixed on the screen. "Our doctor, I mean."

"Oh, right, sure. That's...interesting." The woman seemed as surprised as Ron, who was now leaning as close as possible to the screen.

"Amazing!" he said, practically squeezing Hermione's hand into his. "This muggles—I mean it's amazing!"

"Yes, it is," said the woman, half thrilled and half stunned by Ron's behaviour. "Can you both see it then? That Mr. Weasley is its head, and those are its legs," she said pointing the screen.

It was hard at first for Ron to gain perspective of the image. But after a few minutes he could clearly see the small formed body parts the doctor was talking about. His mouth was still half open and his eyes, just like Hermione's, couldn't drive away from the screen.

"Due to your...special circumstances I assume that you still don't know the sex", said the doctor breaking the silence the couple had formed.

"What? You can tell? That's impossible!"

"Right. Well, medicine has brought us this far Mr. Weasley." She was half frowning and half smiling. "Do you want to know what it's going to be?"

Ron parted his eyes from the screen for the first time and looked at Hermione. Small tears were running down her cheeks, she gave him a weak smile. "Do you want to know?" she said.

"Blimey, of course! Do you?" he answered with enthusiasm, she nodded. "Not that we don't already suspect what it's going to be," he said again. "I mean Weasleys don't have girls on their first try."

"And what's Victorie? A free sample?" said Hermione.

"She's...an odd exception."

"Well, Mr. Weasley you might add a second sample to your list. This one seems to be a girl as well."

-----------------------------------------------

"Amazing," said Ron once again as he examined the small black and white picture he was holding one more time. "Too bad it doesn't move."

It had been two weeks since their visit. Ron was still too proud to admit that the muggle doctor wasn't that terrifying after all, but he couldn't stop consulting the picture she had given them that same day. The news of having a girl had been both unexpected and well received. Ron was the most excited of the couple. Now that he knew, he thought it was maddening to wait nine months for such vital information.

They hadn't told the family their recent discovery yet though. For some reason it felt like sharing a private secret, like knowing something nobody else had access to. Half of the family wouldn't believe muggle doctors could be that precise anyway.

Involved in their emotion the couple had dedicated a great amount of time and effort searching for a first name that would go well before Weasley.

Nothing seemed to fit. If Hermione liked the name then Ron probably hated it, and vice versa. They were being too selective, but Ron refused to have a kid with an unsuitable name. On the other side, Hermione had stated a list of requirements the name had to carry.

"It has to be feminine but strong; simple but special. Nothing too extravagant," she said when they first began searching.

But after days the list of possibilities got smaller, and if there was one more thing Ron and Hermione couldn't agree with, that was their conception of a perfect name. They were sitting on their couch one evening and had decided not to get up until they found what they were looking for.

"I still like Lydia," she said sighing as she scratched another name off her list.

"Sounds like a perfume," he protested.

"Where did you get that? Lydia does not sound like a perfume."

"What happened with Anna? I liked it!"

"That one went off this list days ago. Anna just doesn't say anything."

"What? Of course it does! It says 'My father has the best taste in names'. Anyway, I thought you wanted a nice simple name."

"Yes, but I said special as well."

"Define special for me, will you?"

"Look, never mind that. You made me get rid of Lydia, so Anna just goes."

"Alright," he said crossing his arms.

"It just has to mean something for both of us."

"That's easy, we can always call her after two dead headmistresses."

"Ron, that's still not funny."

"Please Hermione: Albus Severus? I still think Harry must be joking."

"Well, he's not joking. I—I like it. Besides, it really means something to him. And nobody is going to call him for his full name anyway. Albus Potter sounds really nice. Naming him after Dumbledore and Snape is really honourable."

"Sure, but all in the same kid?"

"I hope Harry doesn't hear you."

"What, you think I haven't told him? But let's focus on our own."

"Alright, but we don't have anything else to choose from really. We've rejected them all".

"_We_? You don't like any of my names".

"Your names? Last night you were mocking me with horrible names! You weren't being serious about it."

"Horrible? What's so horrible about Fritha?" he asked laughing.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Alright I was joking, but _seriously_ you didn't even consider Vanessa".

"There are too many Vanessas in the world. I'm estranged that you proposed it, it's a very muggle name."

"It's nice," he answered simply. "What about Josefine?"

"I've never liked that name," she said wrinkling her nose.

"I give up." He said raising his arms. "Do you want a special name? Let Harry pick it".

"Stop making fun of Harry! Oh, is that what you want? Another man choosing your daughter's name?"

Ron raised an eyebrow, meaning that she was probably crossing the line with that last.

"That won't be necessary," he finally said.

They didn't come to a conclusion that night. As a matter of fact, they found themselves tired of searching. Ron finally went to bed with a nameless baby girl waiting to be born and Hermione in one of her most delicate moods.

That same delicate mood lasted her a couple of days. Ron knew that she wasn't going to feel complete until she had named her daughter. It was one of the many things that made her so unique: her determination.

She didn't mention the subject for the next days, but Ron knew that it was the only thing crossing her mind at the moment. To be honest it was the only thing crossing his mind as well, the issue had become a problem. It was actually a very silly problem. They were probably giving it too much importance, but for the complex mind of a Granger and the stubborn head of a Weasley when something got stuck in between then it wouldn't come out until solved properly, that's just how it worked for them.

-----------------------------------------------

Monday afternoons were pretty much a routine. That day Ron left the Ministry early around midday and headed for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. He generally spent the rest of the day there, unless there was some other important business to attend at the Ministry. He helped out George with their most recent projects, trying to merchandise properly every new invention George came up with. He wouldn't return until Wednesday afternoon, when the schedule would be pretty much the same. He truly enjoyed those afternoons. Of course that work rhythm was somehow exhausting but Ron felt both emotionally and professionally attached to the shop, which seemed to grow more and more with the years. But he still couldn't quite let go of the auror's department either, leaving would be like closing an important episode of his life for good. He wasn't ready for that yet but he knew, deep inside, that he wouldn't always have time for both. He had many ideas for the shop and he knew he could make the most of them if he only had the time to dedicate himself completely.

He hadn't talked about leaving the Auror's department to Hermione or George yet and certainly he hadn't mentioned it to Harry. He wasn't even sure yet. But so far he only knew that once he formed a family things were going to get more complicated. Things were getting more complicated already.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" said George as he waved his arms at Ron.

"What? Yes, of course!" he answered as he shook his head trying to focus again.

"Really? Then how come I've been actually talking to myself for the past fifteen minutes?"

They were sitting at the counter of the shop planning out a new strategy for one of their new products but Ron couldn't focus properly.

"Sorry George. I have a lot in mind lately."

"I suppose that's alright, with the wife pregnant and all—"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," he said smiling.

"Let's see: you have a demanding amount of things to do here, you have cases piling up at the auror's department, you have a wife, and you have a baby on the way. Yes, it might be more complicated after all."

"The way you say it seems like a handful. Looks like I should let go of one of those," said Ron partly joking, partly waiting for George's reaction which was, as predicted, immediate. George opened his eyes widely.

"Listen, if you are thinking of quitting one of us then I wisely suggest that it isn't me. I'll tell you what, quit the wife and keep the baby," he said.

"Very funny. Nameless baby by the way."

"Oh, you're looking for names already?"

"Yeah...sort of. We can't really make up our minds."

"That's odd," he replied laughing. A loud knock was heard on the window of the shop. Ron turned around to see and old witch holding a basket filled with flowers.

"That's Mrs. Merta _again,"_ said George rolling his eyes. Just try to ignore her. She's been trying to sell me flowers since last week. Got to give her credit though, she won't give up."

Ron gazed once more at the woman. The basket was filled, most of all, with single roses. They were the most perfect roses Ron had ever seen in his life. Something in them seemed unexplainably attractive. They couldn't possibly be natural.

"Blimey," he said. "Do you suppose she uses a spell to grow them?"

"Um—yeah, I assume she does." Said George a bit confused. "Why? Since when do you care so much about flowers?"

They weren't the general normal Roses. There was something more to them. And suddenly, for a split second Ron found them even more attractive, even more special.

"George, I got to go. I have—an unfinished business to attend," said Ron as he got up and walked towards the door.

"And it has to do with—flowers?" said George even more estranged.

------------------------------------------------------

Ron didn't even bother to knock. He opened Hermione's office and walked in finding that as predicted she was sitting at her desk writing. Her concentration broke with Ron's entrance and she seemed startled.

"Ron? Aren't you supposed to be at the shop?"

"Sure, and you are supposed to be working part time. But I didn't even bother to go home first. I knew you were here." She gave him a guilty smile. "Anyway, that doesn't matter right now."

He laid a single Rose on her desk. It spoke by itself, perfect red petals widely open. It was feminine but strong, simple but special.

"Ron—what's that?" she said smiling but giving out the same strange look that George had given him. Ron smiled.

"And you are the smart one," he said smiling back. He grabbed an empty chair and placed it close to her, where he sat to wait for her reaction.

"Ron, it's beautiful! I mean it really is beautiful. It's so—"

"Perfect?"

"Yes, it is," she said letting go of her quill and picking up the flower, her smile grew wider.

"What, made you—I mean it's awfully beautiful, but where did you find it?" Her tone of surprise was understandable. He wasn't much of a flower giver, but the times he had given her flowers held very specific meanings, just like now.

"Well, it sort of found me instead. But don't take all the credit. It's not just for you."

"It isn't?" she said raising her eyebrow.

"No, it's for her as well," he explained pointing at her protuberance.

Hermione smiled in realisation. For a moment she didn't seem to find the right words. She looked at the Rose deeply and then looked at him once more. She held silence, small tears gathering in her eyes. He wasn't sure if she was getting the message until she whispered her next words.

"Rose," was all she said, so softly he could barely hear her. But hearing it from her lips sounded even more perfect. There was no other name that could sound better with her voice.

"I love it, it's perfect" where her following words, and of course, she didn't need to say more. She leaned closer to him, her smile soft, the small tears now running down her face. He grabbed her chin gently reaching for her lips.

After a moment Ron broke the kiss and he smiled down at her unable to contain his emotion.

"Don't I have the best taste in names?" he said.

"You won't let this one go for a while, will you?" she asked grinning. Ron shook his head.

"No, Rose will know that her mum, the brightest witch I know, couldn't come up with anything worthy enough."

Hermione laughed as she shook his head in disapproval. Ron stood up from his chair and offered a hand to her.

"Come on, let's go."

"Now? I still have to finish—"

"And I have a thousand things to do as well but I'm thinking we'll have a lot to deal with in the upcoming months. What's so wrong about taking the afternoon off?"

Hermione accepted his hand and got up from her chair, still holding the Rose. She left a case undone, and a couple of memos unsent, and Ron as well left unfinished business at the shop and at the ministry. They had enough work to deal with already, but their minds were barely focused on it. Now that Rose had a name it was even more material, and more certain that their priorities were soon to be rearranged. It was, after all, a complete life what they were agreeing to, and it was, after all, perfect.

-------------------------------

A/N: People thanks for reading! I gave closure to this fic because the story line was complete. As you can see is more about closing a stage of life and walking into another, which I might write of along the way. Still, I can't help myself so I'll be writing an epilogue.

Thanks again! Please remember to review! The button is not far from this note.


	14. Epilogue

_A/N: My G__od!! This took so much longer than expected, and that's not good. Well, the truth is that life was crazy these past months and I had to stop writing for quite a while. But, those of you who have me on their authors alert list know that I've been writing more often these last two months, and I plan to keep it that way, because thank god I'm back on track... So, this is just the little epilogue to the story, which I loved writing and I hope to get to another chaptered fic soon (with normal, regular updates). _

--

Ginny stepped out of the fireplace, removing the remaining ashes from her dress. The small circles under her young eyes revealed the lack of rest that only two young sons could bring.

"How are you? Feeling better?" She asked Hermione, who was sitting on the couch.

"Not really," Hermione answered a little grumpily, fanning pieces of parchment at her face.

"Still feeling insanely warm, huh?"

"It's killing me."

"Can't sleep?"

"No..."

"Soaring feet?"

"Yes!" She said, relieved to see someone who had recently experienced what it was like to be in the last days of pregnancy.

"That was the worst one for me," said Ginny as she threw herself on the couch beside Hermione. She sighed while closing her eyes for a couple of seconds.

"What are you so relieved about?"

"Do you hear anything?" said Ginny, throwing Hermione off for a moment.

"No..."

"Exactly," she said smiling.

"Is Albus giving you a hard time?"

"Albus? No! It's still James. You'd be surprised of how well Albus behaves. He barely cries at all. James on the other hand...I'm telling you, I don't know how my mum had seven kids. I'm stopping here...at two."

"No you're not," said Hermione firmly, she had heard Ginny saying recently that she still wanted a girl around the house. Of course, that was before James mysteriously broke another one of her good plates.

"Okay, maybe not...but let me enjoy my night off. I left both of them at the Burrow. Mum's going to keep them tonight, and I'm making the most of this, so...don't be surprised if Harry and I leave early tonight."

"Thanks for the advancement," answered Hermione.

"Where's Harry, anyway? He sent an owl earlier saying that he was arriving here at six."

"They'll be here soon." Hermione hesitated for a moment, "Ginny..."

"What?"

"Is it really..._that_ painful? Going into labour, I mean."

"Why are you asking this now?"

"My mum avoided me when I asked...and Mrs. Weasley said that it didn't hurt at all. But she didn't even look at me in the eyes."

"Well, if I answer you with details you'll probably send yours back." Hermione breathed deeply. "I'll just say this: enjoy your last days of silence around the house," she said laughing. But Hermione did not laugh at all. Instead she frowned and breathed deeply.

"Ginny..."

"What?"

"It...hurts."

"Well, yeah, it does. But stop thinking about that. No point on torturing yourself when you're just days away—"

"No. Ginny...it hurts. Now," said Hermione holding her stomach.

"Oh!" exclaimed Ginny standing up. "Okay...calm down." Hermione nodded, breathing deeply. "We'll just get your things and wait for—"

"Ow!" she complained again, shutting her eyes tightly.

"Never mind, we won't wait, we'll go straight to the hospital," said Ginny, just before she heard Harry and Ron entering through the Chimney.

"What took you so long?" she asked Harry, snapping loudly.

"What? We got caught up at—"

"Never mind!" she cut him. "We have to take Hermione to St. Mungus."

"What? Now? Already? Now?" said Ron, who took a step back behind Harry, his face pale.

"No Ron, I'm thinking in a week or two," answered Hermione as she stood up with Ginny's help.

"Are you sure?" He asked with a very worried look.

"Yes, Ron! Of course I'm sure!"

"Okay, Ron: get Hermione's stuff," Ginny ordered firmly.

"Right. The stuff—" Ron seemed lost, his eyes were fixed on his wife.

"Ron! Get my bag!" said Hermione, who lost her patience rather quickly.

"Right, your bag—"He looked around the room, unable to remember where Hermione's packed bag was.

"You don't know where it is?" asked Harry, as he gazed around the living room as well.

"Ron! It's upstairs!" Said Hermione

"Oh! Right!"

"And will you get the book that's on my night stand?" She pleaded with nature.

"What? What do you want a book for?"

"Just get the book Ron!" she ordered, very irritated.

"But—"

"Ron, just get the book," whispered Harry wisely. Ron nodded and with a very lost look ran up the stairs.

"Harry will you get my wand? It's here, somewhere," said Hermione as she searched around the couch.

"Hermione you won't need your wand," replied Harry.

"Maybe I left it in the kitchen," she said, grabbing her stomach again, pretending that she did not hear him.

"Can't find the bag!" yelled Ron from the second floor.

"Then you moved it, Ron!" yelled back Hermione.

"No I didn't!"

"Well, if it isn't near the stairs then you mo—"

"Oh! found it!"

"Your wand isn't in the kitchen! Just forget about it," said Harry, who was beginning to look severely stressed.

"No! Help me find it!" She let go of Ginny's arm and continued to look for it in the living room. Ginny had no other choice than to join the wand search.

"Got the book and the bag. Let's go", said Ron running down the stairs.

"That's not the book!" replied Hermione

"What? It doesn't matter! It's a book! Let's go!"

"No! That's not it! And where is my wand?"

"Hermione will you forget your wand? Let's go!" said Harry losing his patience.

"What? What the hell do you want your wand for?" asked Ron.

"Ron! I told you: get me the right book!"

"Stop it! I got you a book already, can we get going?"

"No! That's not the right one! My wand!"

"You're being unreasonable!"

"No I'm not Ron!"

"Ron, get the freaking book!" said Harry, covering his eyes with his hands.

"Okay...will everybody just CALM DOWN!" yelled Ginny out of nowhere. The three friends quit the argument and turned around to see Ginny, by the fireplace, wearing a very severe look on her face and holding Hermione's wand.

"Ron, get the book. I don't care!" She said when Ron opened his mouth to put up a fight. "Just get it. Hermione, here's your wand. Harry...calm down. You'll go to the Burrow. Tell mum and we'll meet at the hospital, and remember to contact Hermione's parents, alright?"

--

Getting to the hospital was not as hard as getting out of the house, and once they were there Hermione was properly attended by the healer on call. Ron followed her, leaving Ginny at the waiting room with no other choice than to wait as patiently as possible.

Harry arrived a while later with Hermione's parents, and one by one The Weasleys arrived to the hospital as well. Molly had spread out the word fast enough, and in a few hours the waiting room was filled with red headed wizards. Some had stayed at home with their respective children, while others arrived at the hospital with their little ones. Bill, for one, joined the group only with his daughter Victorie. Fleur had stayed at shell cottage with their little Dominique, but Victorie had insisted on going with her father to the hospital, she was sure that she had to be the first to meet her new cousin.

Percy was as well, alone, wearing a tired look, and owning bags under his eyes. His wife Audrey had stayed at home with Lucy and Molly, their two twin girls. Percy's state proved that his two girls were more than a handful.

And to Ginny's surprise Mr. And Mrs Weasley entered the room, each of them holding a Potter.

"Mum!" exclaimed Ginny as she took James from Arthur's hand. "I thought you'd be staying with them."

"I'm sorry dear," she said looking sincerely worried, holding baby Albus in her arms. "But I haven't missed the birth of any of my grandchildren so far, and I don't plan to begin with Ron."

The chattering of the room was unstoppable and it wasn't long before James started to cry and Victorie began to complain about how long it was taking and how come Teddy wasn't there too. It wasn't long before a nurse walked in the waiting room, making everybody stand from their chair. The nurse, younger than most of them, was shocked at the high amount of people. She hesitated before speaking, showing herself to be intimidated by the crowd.

"Um--Only family are allowed--hospital rules. So please, I need... just the family here..."

There was a moment of general silence, even James stopped crying. George, who was sitting by his wife Angelina -with still no kids of their own since they had been married for no more than a year-, smiled at the intimidated young nurse.

"I reckon you can find a resemblance between us," he said with a touch of sarcasm. "People say we have something in common."

The nurse looked at their hair, and shrugged her shoulders, unable to put up a fight. "Alright," she agreed, but please keep it down."

Of course, the nurse's first request was not taken seriously, but to her luck the waiting did not take as long as the family had expected, and after a couple more hours, the healer came out to give them the news that a baby girl was part of the family. A while later Ron walked into the waiting room, a little more than overwhelmed, holding a little baby, whose crystal blue eyes stole the attention of the place.

"Daddy, look! It's a baby!" said Victory, filled with excitement.

"Rose," Ron whispered to them all, unable to part his sight from hers.

-- / --

"Well, that's pretty much it" said Hermione in such a low tone of voice that Ron leaned in to hear her better. She smiled weakly at the little lump that was now sleeping in the crib. After months of behaving like the new parents they were, Ron and Hermione felt more tired than ever. Ron wasn't sure just how he was handling two jobs, Hermione and now the newborn. But for some reason he didn't find a real motivation to complain, but that was maybe because he was too tired, even for that.

"I think we are getting better at this. We got her sleeping faster than usual," Hermione rubbed her eyes with her hands, and moved her hair away from her face.

"Come on, let's get out before it's too late."

He had to hand it to her, Hermione was a natural mother. But Rose had a knack for driving Hermione crazy in a matter of seconds, and that was a lot to say, since that had been Ron's job up until now.

He walked behind her as they left the baby's room. His muscles ached, his eyes were half way closed, and he hadn't slept right for days. Rose had overruled both of them that week. She cried every night for no apparent reason and the only way to calm her down was holding her, but the second the baby touched her crib she would start crying again. The first days Hermione and Ron had taken turns to carry her around the house. A couple of times Ron found Hermione fast asleep on the couch of the living room with Rose lying on top of her, very much awake.

As endearing as these scenes were Hermione didn't take it much longer, so she decided to follow some muggle doctor's advice she read of in some muggle book. The doctor had a method that created independence in the baby. His popular theory suggested to leave the baby crying until it fell asleep, his theory defended that parents tend to spoil their children in their first months.

Although Ron hated the method he went along with it the first two nights. But, to his eyes it was much worst that way. Rose cried her lungs out almost the entire night before finally falling sleep, so they didn't get much rest anyway, and they had to suffer listening to their little baby crying unstoppably.

But now, for the first night in weeks Rose fell asleep in less than 30 minutes. That was an accomplishment. Once in their bedroom Hermione threw herself on the bed and sunk fast in the mattress. Ron followed her.

"Do you think we'll survive her?" Hermione's voice was soft and slow, her eyes were minimal.

"Hermione, you're being dramatic."

"Oh please, you know you're close to losing your patience."

He was, but he wasn't going to admit it just like that. "Nah, she's an angel," he replied. Hermione's eyebrow arched more than ever. Ron leaned closer to her to kiss the curls that waved across her face. "She's just a baby," he whispered, pretending to be the patient one. His lips wondered down her chin and through the bare skin of her throat.

And just when they were getting comfortable in their position, from across the hall they heard Rose's most particular crying sound.

"There you go," said Hermione, pressing her eyes tightly. "Your little angel is awake again." Ron turned to lay on his back again.

"Do you suppose she does it on purpose?" He asked.

"I'm beginning to believe that too."

They lay quietly on the bed, both staring at the ceiling. Rose's crying was increasing quite fast.

"That does it," said Ron after a few minutes. "I'm getting her."

"Ron, you're not following the method!"

"Screw it! It's obviously not working."

"Ron..." but she didn't have strength to argue. She rolled on the bed and rested on her side. Rose's crying stopped, and Hermione felt her head sinking again in the pillow. Her eyes shut in the following seconds. She felt Ron entering the room and lying on the bed again.

"You brought her, didn't you?" she asked with her eyes still closed.

"Come on, just for a while."

Hermione's eyes opened to find Ron lying on his back with Rose cuddled up on his chest. Her crystal blue eyes were staring at her mother, and her little fist was holding tight on Ron's finger.

"She really is a professional," she murmured.

"She doesn't like being alone. See Rose, your mum doesn't like it when you're here."

"Shut up Ron! That's not true! Don't tell her that."

Rose laughed, unaware that she was the subject of the conversation.

"She smiles like you," said Ron after watching her for a few seconds.

"Does she?" said Hermione, who hadn't found herself in that smile. Ron looked at Rose again.

"Well, maybe not. Her teeth will probably be pretty normal."

"Shut up!" she said, secretly wishing for her daughter not to inherit her original set of teeth. "She's got your eyes," she said after a while. "...And your freckles." She caressed the baby's shoulders, they were filled with little red dots. "Do you think she'll have your hair as well?"

"Are you kidding me? She's going to have yours. Look, its curling up already."

"Poor thing," she said gazing at the few little red curls on her daughter's head.

"Nah, she'll love it...just like me."

"She probably won't when she turns 13, though," replied Hermione, remembering how hard it was to have to go through puberty having to handle wild hormones _and_ a wild bushy hair as well. Not that Hermione ever put that much effort on handling her hair.

"Did you hear that Rose? Your mum is underestimating you already. Don't take it personally, she does that."

"Ron! Quit telling her those things. That's not true!" Rose's laughter increased.

"See, she loves it already."

"Well...blue eyes and red hair...boys will love that..."she said teasing, anticipating Ron's reaction.

"Boys! What boys?" He snapped.

"You know...boys..."

"Forget it," he shook his head. "She'll start dating when she turns twenty-five."

"Sure Ron."

He frowned at Rose, trying to figure out how that little baby could date anybody.

"You'll scare them off, won't you Rose?" he said sweetly, with some hope in his voice. The baby laughed again, giving him the impression that she understood him well. "She'll be a tough one, you'll see."

"You have her all figured out, don't you?"

"Sure! She'll play chess...and Quidditch."

"For goodness sake Ron, she's just a baby." She said as she laughed. "Besides, you can't expect her to be like you, she—"

"I said she'll be a tough one, didn't I?" He interrupted firmly, his eyes still on his daughter.

"So...?"

"Well, I meant she'll be like you."

Hermione smiled, speechless, her heart pounding strongly at the sight of her husband lying so comfortably, with the baby cuddled in his chest. She stared at Rose, whose petit body ascended slowly every other second with Ron's breathing. The movement seemed to smooth the child, because she was starting to close her big eyes. Hermione felt her eyes closing as well, slowly but deeply. The marathon of the previous days was enough reason to beat her in a matter of minutes. She tried to fight the impulse of sleeping, but her tired eyes betrayed her fast.

"See! It works! She's sleeping already," said Ron sounding victorious. But when he turned his face at Hermione he found her asleep as well. He reached for the lamp on the nightstand and turned off the only light that was left in the room.

He would have time to worry about teaching her chess, or Quidditch, or how to repeal boys. But right now holding her was more than enough, holding on to her made everything else seem small, far, simple and above all: possible.

Holding on to Rose was as simple and meaningful as life could be, it was everything...

--

_A/N: Well this is the official closure to the fic! So please leave you__r last review! Thank you so much for reading!_


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